Titled We don’t need another hero, the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art is a conversation with artists and contributors who think and act beyond art as they confront the incessant anxieties perpetuated by a willful disregard for complex subjectivities.
Starting from the position of Europe, Germany, and Berlin as a city in dialogue with the world, the 10th Berlin Biennale confronts the current widespread states of collective psychosis. By referencing Tina Turner’s song from 1985, We Don’t Need Another Hero, we draw from a moment directly preceding major geopolitical shifts that brought about regime changes and new historical figures. The 10th Berlin Biennale does not provide a coherent reading of histories or the present of any kind. Like the song, it rejects the desire for a savior. Instead, it explores the political potential of the act of self-preservation, refusing to be seduced by unyielding knowledge systems and historical narratives that contribute to the creation of toxic subjectivities. We are interested in different configurations of knowledge and power that enable contradictions and complications.
Already launched in July 2017, I’m Not Who You Think I’m Not, the public program of the 10th Berlin Biennale, set the tone in a first event that took place in collaboration with the independent educational initiative Each One Teach One (EOTO) e. V. in Berlin. This was followed by a panel discussion in cooperation with the FNB JoburgArtFair in September 2017. The public program disavows assumed beingness and know-hows, perspectives that are often based on existing, constructed social frameworks and their associated speculations about particular subjectivities. Throughout the buildup to the 10th Berlin Biennale until its conclusion in September 2018, the public program creates situations evading these points of view and, at the same time, proposes a refreshed grammar for facing the present.
We don’t need another hero is curated by Gabi Ngcobo with a curatorial team composed of Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Serubiri Moses, Thiago de Paula Souza, and Yvette Mutumba. It takes place from June 9 to September 9, 2018 at various venues in Berlin.
Read more about the institution and past Berlin Biennale editions.
VENUES
AKADEMIE DER KÜNSTE
Akademie der Künste (Hanseatenweg), photo: Timo Ohler
Founded in 1696 as an academic institution, the Akademie der Künste is one of the oldest cultural institutions in Europe. The Akademie has been formed through a membership process, which endures to this day. In its early history the Akademie der Künste foregrounded learning through teaching and exchange among members. Having established itself as a center for national cultural renewal and enlightenment, it gradually assumed its present-day form as a platform for discussions on art and politics. The 10th Berlin Biennale is interested in positioning sociopolitical and historical narratives in conversation with stories that inhabit the expansive archives of the Akademie, the lineage of membership, and the Brutalist architecture of Werner Düttmann from the late 1950s.
The 10th Berlin Biennale exhibition at the Akademie der Künste starts with a temporary structure that introduces historical and visual elements from two heritage sites and one historical figure: Sanssouci, a summer palace built by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia in Potsdam, DE, between 1745 and 1747; Sans-Souci Palace in Milot in Haiti, built by King Henri of Haiti between 1810 and 1813; and Haitian revolutionary leader, Colonel Jean-Baptiste Sans Souci, an enslaved African who led troops in guerrilla fighting against the French in 1791. This conceptual frame underlines the ideological underpinnings of all historical narratives and the institutions that house them.
Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
KW INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, courtesy Tatjana Pieters, photo: Frank Sperling
Founded in the early 1990s, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, KW Institute for Contemporary Art is a space for the production, display, and dissemination of contemporary art. Founded as an association of young people passionate about art, KW and the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art that soon followed were established with the desire to engage with international contemporary art discourses. Throughout the past twenty-six years, KW has been able to construct its own legacy around the people who have shaped its development and those who continue to imagine its future. We don’t need another hero marks an intersection from which we can imagine what the next twenty years of a global-minded contemporary art biennial might look like. The exhibition at this venue begins by introducing viewers to a portrait of a selection of people who have helped define the institution and continues with works that renegotiate inherent hierarchical structures in political spaces, knowledge generating institutions, and personal spaces.
Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin
VOLKSBÜHNE PAVILION
Volksbühne Pavilion, © Volksbühne Berlin
The Volksbühne Pavilion is a glass construction located on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz next to the Volksbühne theater’s main building and situated a short walk away from KW. Previously the pavilion hosted artists’ projects as well as the theater’s bookshop and box office. For the 10th Berlin Biennale the pavilion features an artistic project that considers its historical location of the pavilion and includes a malleable installation open to public participation. Here performances and other durational actions take place over the course of the biennial.
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, 10178 Berlin
ZK/U – CENTER FOR ART AND URBANISTICS
ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics, © Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, 2017
ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics is located on the grounds of a former railroad depot in Berlin’s neighborhood of Moabit. It was initiated and is run by the artist collective KUNSTrePUBLIK. The collective cooperated with the 5th Berlin Biennale in 2008, in which their temporarily installed project Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum also served as a venue. At the time the “park” was an empty plot of land, a former part of the Berlin Wall in the heart of the city—and the object of intense real-estate speculation. The 10th Berlin Biennale reestablishes a dialogue with the collective by inviting selected artists for extended stays in Berlin to work in the studio spaces that form part of ZK/U’s residency program. In their practices these artists investigate how their politicized bodies respond to the inherent systems of power that define the built city environment. Other projects critically examine varied imagined schemas for natural and constructed environments, both present-day and historic.
Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin
HAU HEBBEL AM UFER (HAU 2)
HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU 2), photo: Jürgen Fehrmann
HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg unites the three spaces HAU1, HAU2, and HAU3 in an international production house for performing arts. At HAU2 the 10th Berlin Biennale presents two evenings dedicated to an artistic research project that investigates the history of Kwaito, a musical genre that originated in Soweto in post-1994 South Africa. The events take place on June 15 and 16, 2018, two specific dates marking the forty-second anniversary of the 1976 Soweto student uprising, an event that serves as an important reference point for the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protest movements that have been ongoing in South Africa since 2016. HAU2 also serves as a site for a temporary exhibition between June 9 and 10 as well as June 13 through June 16, 2018 from 5 to 10 pm.
Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin
OPENING HOURS
Wed–Mon 11 am–7 pm
Thu 11 am–9 pm
Tue closed
ADMISSION
Admission all exhibition venues 16 €
Reduced 10 €
Groups of 10 or more, per person 14 €
Groups reduced 8 €
Tickets
MEDIATION
The mediation team for the 10th Berlin Biennale consists of qualified mediators, who create opportunities for diverse audiences to approach contemporary art through collective discussions. At Akademie der Künste, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics, a selection of artistic positions engage visitors in dialogue.
PUBLIC GUIDED TOURS
Public guided tours are in German and can be booked online.
Every Saturday, 2 pm:
Akademie der Künste
Duration: 90 minutes
5 €, reduced 4 €
(Admission not included)
Every Saturday, 4 pm:
ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics
Duration: 60 minutes
4 €, reduced 3 €
(Admission not included)
Every Sunday, 4 pm:
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Duration: 90 minutes
5 €, reduced 4 €
(Admission not included)
Meeting point
Ticket desk at each respective venue
Book guided tour
GUIDED TOURS FOR GROUPS
Tours in English and German can be booked online for groups of up to 20 people.
For tours in other languages and additional questions, please contact:
T +49 (0)30 24 34 59 979
F +49 (0)30 24 34 59 99
visit@berlinbiennale.de
We recommend planning 90 minutes for tours at Akademie der Künste and KW Institute for Contemporary Art. Tours at ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics should last approximately 60 minutes.
Prices
60 minutes: 95 €
90 minutes: 140 €
120 minutes: 185 €
Every additional hour: 90 €
(Admission not included)
Reduction for Students
60 minutes: 85 €
90 minutes: 120 €
120 minutes: 155 €
Every additional hour: 80 €
(Admission not included)
Guided Tours for School Classes and Preschool Groups
60 minutes: 65 €
(Admission included, on request)
Meeting Point
Ticket desk at each respective venue
Book guided tour
QUALIFICATIONS FOR TEACHERS AND EDUCATORS
Our qualification reflects the interests and concerns of contemporary art practices and unfolds in an alternative teaching and learning environment within the framework of the 10th Berlin Biennale. Offers apply experimental methods within the Berlin Biennale and beyond. Included are the initiation and support of artistic processes in the classroom and in exhibition spaces as well as related reflections.
Prices and duration on request. We are happy to coordinate an appropriate program for your group.
As part of the study week Meeting Cultural Education! with participants from all over Europe, modules in English from September 3–8, 2018 can be booked per day online. Booking and further information here.
For questions about our qualification offers, please contact:
Mona Jas
T +49 (0)30 24 34 59 54
F +49 (0)30 24 34 59 99
visit@berlinbiennale.de
Meeting Point
Ticket desk at each respective venue
GROUP VISITS
Groups of more than 20 people should contact us in advance: visit@berlinbiennale.de or T +49 (0)30 24 34 59 979.
GROUPS WITH INDIVIDUAL GUIDES
Please note that groups accompanied by their own guide must register at visit@berlinbiennale.de or T +49 (0)30 24 34 59 979 and are required to pay a licensing fee of 35 Euro (max. 20 people including guide).
ACCESS
BUS, TRAIN, AND TRAM
Akademie der Künste
Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
S-Bahn S3/S5/S7/S9: Bellevue
U-Bahn U9, Bus 106: Hansaplatz
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin
S-Bahn S1/S2/S25/S26, Tram M1/M5: Oranienburger Straße
U-Bahn U6: Oranienburger Tor
U-Bahn U8: Weinmeisterstraße
Volksbühne Pavilion
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, 10178 Berlin
S-Bahn S3/S5/S7/S9: Alexanderplatz
U-Bahn U2, Tram M8, Bus 142: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistic
Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin
S-Bahn S41/S42, Bus 106/123/TXL: Beusselstraße
S-Bahn S41/S42: Westhafen
U-Bahn U9: Birkenstraße
HAU HEBBEL AM UFER (HAU2)
Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin
S-Bahn S1/S2: Anhalter Bahnhof
U-Bahn U1/U3/U6: Hallesches Tor
U-Bahn U1/U3/U7: Möckernbrücke
Bus M41: Willy-Brandt-Haus
ESCOOTER AND BIKESHARING
With COUP eScooter sharing service to the 10th Berlin Biennale: new customers may use the code “BIENNALE” for three free 30-minute rides. Download the app and register for free. More information via joincoup.com. Offer valid until September 15, 2018.
Take a Deezer nextbike to all venues: use the code 767076 for a free daily pass. Registration and info: deezernextbike.de or use the app. Offer valid from June 7 until September 9, 2018.