5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art: When Things Cast No Shadow

This year the Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art bears the title “When Things Cast No Shadow” and is divided into two parts: a day and a night section. The day part of the 5th Berlin Biennale is on view at four venues, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, and the Schinkel Pavillon. It includes mostly newly commissioned works by 50 artists. The night part of the exhibition features over 100 artists and cultural producers in 63 nightly events taking place in locations spread across the city. Among the participating artists are Caner Aslan, Nairy Baghramian, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Patricia Esquivias, Susanne Kriemann, Ettore Sottsass, Piotr Uklański, Manon De Boer, IDEA Arts + Society, Babette Mangolte, Falke Pisano, Wilhelm Sasnal, Superflex. The curators of the 5th Berlin Biennial are Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filipovic. VTV correspondent Lizza May David attended the press conference and had a first look at the works at KW Berlin and Neue Nationalgalerie. April 3, 2008.

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From the press release: “The berlin biennale für zeitgenössische kunst e.v. was founded on March 26, 1996 by Klaus Biesenbach, founding director of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and a group of collectors and patrons of the arts. The idea of establishing a biennale in Germany was inspired by the Venice Biennale in 1995. Following the demise of aperto – the forum for young contemporary art founded in 1981 – there was much discussion about the need to heighten the profile of contemporary art in Berlin. The aim of the association is to organise a representative, international exhibition of contemporary art in berlin every two years and to attract attention to less established younger artists. The exhibition’s original and most important institutional partner is the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, which regularly provides the berlin biennale with the use its exhibition spaces. Klaus Biesenbach took the artistic helm of the 1. berlin biennial in cooperation with Nancy Spector and Hans Ulrich Obrist. For the second biennial in 2001, the baton was passed to Saskia Bos, who is in turn followed by Ute Meta Bauer for the 2004 exhibition. The fourth berlin biennial in 2006 was curated by Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni and Ali Subotnick. Adam Szymczyk was chosen for the fifth berlin biennial in 2008 who then appointed Elena Filipovic as co-curator.”

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