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Architects: Meyer-Grohbrügge
- Area: 1558 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Thomas Meyer-Ostkreuz
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Lead Architect: Johanna Meyer-Grohbrügge
Text description provided by the architects. Since its founding, the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art has become one of the most important international forums for contemporary art. The Berlin Biennale takes place every two years at varying locations in Berlin and is defined by the differing concepts of its curators.
The exhibition design for the 11th Berlin Biennale curated by María Berríos, Renata Cervetto, Lisette Lagnado, and Agustín Pérez Rubio, sets specific atmospheres for each venue related fi to the overall curatorial concept. It transforms the spaces to create environments in which the artworks perform.
Gropius Bau is the representative museum of the German colonial era. Diagonals interrupt the classical order of enfilade, forcing the visitor to walk in different ways, ensuring a deeper involvement with each work. The semi-transparent fabric walls let the rooms still appear as before only to be used differently.
They separate and connect artworks simultaneously, implementing a soft layer to the museum’s existing self-assured identity. KW Institute for Contemporary Art with its column-structured spaces is converted into a church quoting typical elements such as additional rows of columns, ornamental windows, as well as particular cloth and wooden structures, giving a spatial character to the works which address related subjects.
daadgalerie, opening up to a busy street with a big glass front, is turned into a shop, bright and loud, where shiny walls covered with aluminum foil reflect the movements of visitors and cars passing by, turning the space into a dynamic, vibrant showcase for the artworks. ExRotaprint, as the living archive, picks up on the former exhibition’s characteristic element, a blue line on the wall, and transforms this line into a table presenting the Biennale’s curatorial notebook. For all venues, it was particularly important to include the afterlife of the installation in the concept, using recyclable or reusable materials and mechanical connections as much as possible.
