The 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art Announces its Venues

From June 14 to September 14, 2025, the 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art will present its program across four venues: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Sophiensæle, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, and a former courthouse on Lehrter Straße in Berlin-Moabit. By introducing the former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, the Berlin Biennale is opening a new space for contemporary art in Berlin.

The 13th Berlin Biennale investigates a specific line of contemporary artistic languages drawn from diverse practices and art histories from nonadjacent geographies, focusing on the capacity of art in politically challenging times.  

The four venues have ambivalent histories—of violence but also resistance—spanning from the present day, through the post-1989 period, the period of divided Germany, National Socialism, the Weimar Republic, and the German Empire. Their spatial structures still bear traces of turbulence, protest, or suppression and, finally, how artists in Berlin performed a re-commoning of these spaces over time.

Concentrated in the center of Berlin, the venues form a walkable route, stretching from the starting point at KW Institute for Contemporary Art all the way to the former Courthouse Lehrter Straße. The parcours of the 13th Berlin Biennale is inspired by the circular movements of foxes—a leitmotif of the curatorial program—as they navigate the urban landscape.

Underscoring Berlin’s institutions as incubators for artistic ferment, the 13th Berlin Biennale has formed sisterhoods with cultural spaces deeply embedded in Berlin through co-curatorial projects. These sister organizations include the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), the Filmrauschpalast Moabit at Kulturfabrik, SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, and the Sophiensæle. 

The 13th Berlin Biennale is curated by Zasha Colah. Valentina Viviani is Assistant Curator.

More about the venues