The 12th Berlin Biennale, curated by artist Kader Attia, announced its list of participants today—just a week before the show opens. The 82 international artists featured in the exhibition will address themes such as global capitalism and decolonialism.
Among the participants are Forensic Architecture, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Roberto Crippa, Omer Fast, Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahman, and Zuzanna Hertzberg, all of whose contributions stem from research into what organizers call “global capitalism’s frantic and destructive race toward production.”
The exhibition, titled “Still Present!,” takes places across multiple venues throughout Berlin, including the Akademie der Künste, Hamburger Bahnhof, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and Stasi Headquarters.
“Since the onset of modernity, our planet has endured successive and ruinous changes that have accelerated alarmingly since the start of the third millennium,” reads the curatorial text. “The place to which we have arrived today is not by chance: It is the result of historical formations constructed over centuries.”
Exploring the wounds of a society deeply marked by inequality, the Biennale will address the many changes necessary for reconceptualizing the world according to more egalitarian values.
“In their egoism, modern Western societies have taken their own liberal character for granted, falsely assuming that the balance between free trade and universal suffrage guarantees a self-regulating system of universal democratic values. The dystopian society we have inherited from this utopian promise produces chaos but denies responsibility for it.”
See the full artist list below:
Alex Prager; Amal Kenawy; Ammar Bouras; Antonio Recalcati, Enrico Baj, Erró, Gianni Dova, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Roberto Crippa; Ariella Aïsha Azoulay; Asim Abdulaziz; Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme; Binta Diaw; Birender Yadav; Calida Garcia Rawles; Christine Safatly; Clément Cogitore; DAAR – Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti; Dana Levy; Đào Châu Hải; David Chavalarias; Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige; Driss Ouadahi; Dubréus Lhérisson; Elske Rosenfeld; Etinosa Yvonne; Florian Sông Nguyễn; Forensic Architecture; Haig Aivazian; Hasan Özgür Top; Imani Jacqueline Brown; Jean-Jacques Lebel; Jeneen Frei Njootli; Jihan El-Tahri; João Polido; Khandakar Ohida; Lamia Joreige; Lawrence Abu Hamdan; Layth Kareem; Mai Nguyễn-Long; Maithu Bùi; Marta Popivoda/Ana Vujanović; Mathieu Pernot; Mayuri Chari; Mila Turajlić; Mónica de Miranda; Moses März; Myriam El Haïk; Ngô Thành Bắc; Nil Yalter; Noel W Anderson; Olivier Marboeuf; Omer Fast; PEROU – Pôle d’Exploration des Ressources Urbaines; Prabhakar Kamble; Praneet Soi; Raed Mutar; Sajjad Abbas; Sammy Baloji; Simone Fattal; Susan Schuppli; Susana Pilar; Sven Johne; Taloi Havini; Tammy Nguyen; Taysir Batniji; Tejswini Narayan Sonawane; Temitayo Ogunbiyi; The School of Mutants (Boris Raux, Hamedine Kane, Lou Mo, Stéphane Verlet Bottéro, Valérie Osouf); Thùy-Hân Nguyễn-Chí; Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn; Uriel Orlow; Yuyan Wang; Zach Blas; Zuzanna Hertzberg.