12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Every two years, the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art brings together international artists, theoreticians, and practitioners in exhibitions and accompanying programs. With its political profile, it stands for committed art that addresses the urgent questions of the present. The 12th Berlin Biennale takes place from June 11 to September 18, 2022, and is curated by Kader Attia.

12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Kader Attia looks back on more than two decades of decolonial engagement. As an artist, thinker, and activist, he has been particularly engaged with the notion of repair—first of objects and physical injuries, and then of individual and societal traumas. Throughout his practice, repair has emerged as a mode of cultural resistance, a form of agency that finds expression in diverse practices and fields of knowledge. In his role as curator of the 12th Berlin Biennale, Attia makes this form of agency the starting point of a program that involves contributors and audiences in a critical conversation, in order to find ways together to care for the now.

Ana Teixeira Pinto, Đỗ Tường Linh, Marie Helene Pereira, Noam Segal, and Rasha Salti have been invited to join its artistic team. They work in close collaboration with Kader Attia, contributing their unique perspectives to the project’s core decolonial concept through the lenses of their diverse backgrounds and critical practices.

The international selection committee for the curatorship of the 12th Berlin Biennale included: Yael Bartana (artist, Amsterdam, NL, and Berlin, DE), Beatrice von Bismarck (professor of art history and visual culture at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst / Academy of Fine Arts, Leipzig, DE), Anita Dube (artist and independent curator, Greater Noida, IN), Krist Gruijthuijsen (director of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin), Sohrab Mohebbi (Kathe and Jim Patrinos Curator of the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, US), Gabi Ngcobo (artist, educator, and independent curator, Johannesburg, ZA), and Gabriela Rangel (writer and director at Fundación Malba – Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, AR).

Berlin Biennale

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art takes place every two years at varying locations in Berlin and is defined by the differing concepts of its renowned curators. It promotes experimental formats and provides the appointed curators the space and freedom to present the latest relevant and challenging positions independent of the art market and collection interests.

Each edition brings together artists, theorists, and practitioners from different fields to let them enter into a dialogue with the city of Berlin and its public. The German capital is continuously under change thus remaining fragmented, diverse, and contradictory. The Berlin Biennale explores artistic developments to present the unseen and the unfamiliar against the backdrop of this stimulating atmosphere. Participation in the exhibition has contributed to numerous young artists achieving international status.

Read more about former editions on the institutional website.