5th berlin biennial for contemporary art
05.04. – 15.06.2008
When things cast no shadow
 
 
When things cast no shadow, the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art, curated by Adam Szymczyk and
Elena Filipovic, brings together artists from different generations and nationalities in an exhibition by day
and night that aims to trace the diversity of art practices today.  
 
Eschewing a singular theme, form, or temporality, and determined instead by a critical engagement with
artists’ processes, When things cast no shadow could be said to take the form of an open structure in five
movements without a plot.
 
The day part of the 5th berlin biennial will be on view at four distinct venues and include mostly newly
commissioned works by 50 artists, while the night part of the show will feature still more artists and cultural
producers in 63 nightly events taking place in locations spread across the once-divided city.
 
The exhibition spaces of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, founded in 1991 in Berlin-Mitte will hold,
among other projects, films by Babette Mangolte, Michel Auder, and Patricia Esquivias as well as an
intervention by Ahmet Öğüt that comments on state power and its means of control. The attic will be
turned into a studio/installation activated by Tris Vonna-Michell’s storytelling.
 
The iconic glass hall of Mies van der Rohe’s ultra-modernist Neue Nationalgalerie in former West Berlin
has inspired various responses from artists. Among them, a film installation by Susanne M. Winterling
explores the water condensation that flaws van der Rohe’s masterpiece, while Gabriel Kuri builds up a
participatory sculpture that reorganizes one of the building’s regular service operations. Cyprien Gaillard
brings an unpretentious public sculpture from a housing project in Paris to the terrace of the museum thus
positioning a symbol for one failed social-architectural ideal on the grounds representing an opposed,
triumphant architectural ideal.
 
The outdoor exhibition site of the Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, in the area formerly adjoining the Berlin
Wall, presents, among other works, a new community-based project by Kateřina Šedá, who goes over the
fences that separate neighbors in her home village of Líšeň in the Czech Republic. Lars Laumann screens
a film about a woman who married the Berlin Wall, while Ania Molska installs a sculpture used as a prop in
her new film.
 
The first of five alternating, artist-curated solo shows at the Schinkel Pavillon will feature works of Paris-
based Swiss-born designer Janette Laverrière, presented by Nairy Baghramian. It will open on March 20,
2008, preceding the official opening of the 5th berlin biennial on April 5 and upsetting the demand for a
single, spectacular biennial beginning.
 
The night part of the biennial, entitled Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours (My nights are more
beautiful than your days), comprises 63 nocturnal acts involving artists and other thinkers and takes place
throughout the city. Neuro-scientist Olaf Blanke demonstrates an out-of-body experiment, at the
encouragement of artist Melvin Moti. The curatorial collective WHW holds a lecture on Modernism in the
former Yugoslavia, and Augusto Boal, founder of the Theater of the Oppressed and this year’s Nobel
Peace Prize candidate, runs a workshop according to his context-sensitive teaching method. Cameron
Jamie screens his recent film JO at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz with a live score by
Japanese noise artist Keiji Haino, and more, night after night.
 
A comprehensive publication has been conceived as an interpretative tool in parallel with the 5th berlin
biennial. It includes a visual and textual anthology of source material submitted by participating artists.
 
The visitors guided tours program Secret Service offers diverse formats of made-to-measure exhibition
tours that enable the visitors to investigate the biennial from different angles. Further information and
booking at www.berlinbiennale.de.
 
Venues:
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69
10117 Berlin-Mitte
 
Neue Nationalgalerie
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
 
Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum
Kommandantenstraße / Neue Grünstraße
10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg
 
Schinkel Pavillon
Oberwallstraße 1
10117 Berlin-Mitte
 
 
Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours
Every night except Mondays at various places in Berlin.
Detailed program available soon at www.berlinbiennale.de.
 
 
Curators: Adam Szymczyk and Elena Filipovic
 
Director: Gabriele Horn
 
 
The presence of the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art at its various venues is made possible by a
co-operation between Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V. and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Stiftung
Preussischer Kulturbesitz (for the Neue Nationalgalerie), KUNSTrePUBLIK e. V. (for the Skulpturenpark
Berlin_Zentrum), and the organizers of the Schinkel Pavillon (for the Schinkel Pavillon).
 
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art is organized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and is
funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes/German Federal Cultural Foundation.
 
The publications accompanying the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art are generously supported by
the LUMA Foundation.
 
Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours, the night part of the 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art, is
kindly supported by the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (FABA).
 
The 5th berlin biennial for contemporary art is supported by Peter Marino Architect.
 
 
Further information:
Maike Cruse  
T +49 [30] 2434 59 42   
press AT berlinbiennale.de  
www.berlinbiennale.de