9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

The 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, curated by DIS, will seek to materialize the paradoxes increasingly influencing the world in 2016 – the virtual as the real, nations as brands, people as data, culture as capital, wellness as politics, happiness as GDP, and so on. It aims to shape-shift across multiple sites, each one releasing a whiff of contemporary "paradessence" (paradox + essence).

The Akademie der Künste at Pariser Platz, one of the main venues, is a historical site sheathed in a large glass building. Directly adjacent to the government district, it exemplifies the state’s contemporary visual codes – a national legacy with a sheen of transparency. Other exhibition venues include the ESMT European School of Management and Technology in the building formerly housing the East German Staatsrat (State Council); a former telecommunications bunker at the Landwehr Canal, which is the future site of The Feuerle Collection; Reederei Riedel’s Blue Star sightseeing boat; and KW Institute for Contemporary Art. Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).