introduction by Axel Wieder, director

Welcome to the 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art!

This project has many faces—one of them is the fox. As the allegorical leitmotif for its visual identity, the fox has a profound influence on the 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. To call it a theme would be too narrow; rather, it is reflective of a certain approach to our complex and conflict-ridden present that lies at the heart of this iteration of Berlin Biennale. Curated by Zasha Colah, with Valentina Viviani as assistant curator, the Berlin Biennale invites audiences to explore and engage through an extensive exhibition spanning four venues, a program of events, and other activities. It follows the work of emerging and established artists, and at times, historical perspectives.

At its core, it focuses on artistic strategies for articulating oneself in difficult or repressive contexts, for carving out free spaces, and for finding a language that resists being reduced to the object of its critique—even when some of the experiences and topics addressed are painful. Thus, we find poetry and humor coming together in a way that reflects a deep, formal engagement with such moments of artistic contradiction, offering a specific perspective on contemporary art as a form of expression: as a fundamental motivation and driving force of artistic practice, as a space for creative subversion that enables new forms of articulation rather than reproducing ideologies.

Beyond these aspects, the 13th Berlin Biennale also explores the contexts illuminated by Zasha Colah’s curation. Various geographical interrelationships serve as research pathways and are examined through “deep dives,” bring ing together perspectives across generations, with a focus on South and Southeast Asia.

As an international project, the 13th Berlin Biennale remains attuned to other global contexts but shifts perspectives and seeks out connections from the vantage point of its central curatorial contexts. Divided into chapters corresponding to its four exhibition venues, the biennial explores the artistic power of reinterpretation, the boundaries between legality and illegality, the space of the street, and narrated history. Each artistic work contributes its own specific themes, revealing relationships, repetitions, and differences that converge into a rich, multi-faceted international discourse—one that resonates with Berlin’s history and contemporary reality in numerous ways. More than half of the sixty contributions to the 13th Berlin Biennale are newly commissioned for this occasion.

A third key aspect is the Berlin Biennale’s tradition of engaging with the urban space and—implicitly or explicitly—raising questions about the way we live together. By opening up spaces that are not typically used as exhibition venues and through diverse forms of collaboration, the Berlin Biennale creates a public platform for discussing present-day challenges and possible futures. Given the increasing polar- ization of political discourse and the conspicuously growing constraints on cultural spaces, such platforms are more essential than ever in maintaining and expanding an open dialogue. The Berlin Biennale embraces this responsibility and looks forward to lively exchanges and debates.

My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to all the artists and contributors to this Berlin Biennale. I am especially grateful to Zasha Colah and Valentina Viviani for their close and productive collaboration, as well as to the entire Berlin Biennale team, who have met local and global crises and upheavals with tireless dedication and personal commitment—and always with a sense of hope. My personal thanks go to Gabriele Horn, who led the Berlin Biennale as director for over twenty years, elevating it into a great, indispensable institution and passing the role on to me with immense trust. This 13th Berlin Biennale remains very much her achievement. To everyone involved, I extend my heartfelt thanks for the warm welcome into the team, which also includes KW Institute for Contemporary Art and my wonderful colleague Emma Enderby. I am deeply grateful to our support association, particu- larly the board members Katharina Grosse, Paula Macedo Weiß, and Katharina Kurz, for their trust and unwavering support.

I also wish to thank Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska and Kirsten Haß on behalf of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, which has been supporting the Berlin Biennale since 2004 and has made it possible in its current form. The foundation’s commitment to the Berlin Biennale as a cultural beacon is a vital and necessary affirmation of contemporary art and of Berlin itself—something for which we are profoundly grateful. We also extend our thanks to the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion for its long-term support, as well as to our other funders, including Goethe-Institut and the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, for their renewed collaboration. Our gratitude also goes to Volkswagen Group for supporting the Berlin Biennale’s ever-central art mediation program and to Ammodo Art for funding this year’s new productions. A special thanks to all our partners, especially our institutional collaborators, for their hospitality and collab- oration: Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath from Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, who are partnering with the Berlin Biennale for the second time, as well as our interdisciplinary partner, Sophiensæle, namely, Andrea Niederbuchner and Jens Hillje, who—based in the same neighborhood and sharing a similar history— are once again an official Berlin Biennale venue. We are also immensely grateful to BIM – Berliner Immobilienmanagement GmbH for the extraordinary opportunity to use the former courthouse on Lehrter Straße as an exhibition space for the first time, paving the way for its continued cultural use.

For this edition of the Berlin Biennale, we are also collaborating with what we call our sister organizations, with whom we have jointly developed individual program components. Alongside Sophiensæle, these include SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), and Filmrauschpalast at Kulturfabrik Moabit, to whom we extend our sincere thanks. An endeavor like the Berlin Biennale would not be possible without an extensive network of invaluable partnerships and supporters— something we are incredibly proud of. All of them are acknowledged at the end of this publication, and each one has our deepest appreciation for contributing to this project. Many thanks to all the authors for the ideas and insights they have shared here. Finally, my gratitude goes out once more to our great team, which holds together all these sprawling threads, and to all our visitors—I look forward to an inspiring few months together.

Axel Wieder
Director, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art