Workshops
English / Deutsch

31.8.–9.9.2018

BBX Crit Sessions

Curators Workshop on the occasion of the 10th Berlin Biennale

On the occasion of the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, curator Gabi Ngcobo and her team—Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Serubiri Moses, Thiago de Paula Souza, and Yvette Mutumba— had invited Antonia Majaca and Sohrab Mohebbi to rethink and expand the format of the Curators Workshop.

After a number of successful, theme-based workshops held in relation to the 4th to 9th editions of the Berlin Biennale, this iteration, as proposed by the workshop directors, was centered on the biennial exhibition itself. It encouraged an exchange with the Berlin Biennale staff, curators, contributors, and participants. The Curators Workshop took as its primary subject matter the parameters, resources, and tools offered by the Berlin Biennale. The program examined the exhibition as a complex network of material, political, and aesthetic contingencies. It focused on its visible and invisible alliances and relations, using the biennial as a site of encounter and study.

The ten-day gathering with a group of fifteen contributors selected from nearly 400 applications was comprised of daily Crit Sessions involving analyses and discussions about the curatorial decisions, conceptual constellations, and individual artworks, in addition to close readings of accompanying discursive and publishing programs. The program also included in-depth conversations with the curators, artists, contributors, invited respondents and lecturers, and the audience.

CONTRIBUTING CURATORS

  • Alina Belishkina, lives and works in Helsinki, FI
  • Amanda Carneiro Santos, lives and works in São Paulo, BR
  • Aziza Harmel, lives and works in Tunis, TN
  • Behzad Nejadghanbar, lives and works in Tehran, IR
  • Eva Gabriela Posas Rasgado, lives and works in Mexico City, MX
  • Giscard Bouchotte, lives and works in Port-au-Prince, HT
  • Gökcan Demirkazık, lives and works in Beirut, LB
  • Guslagie Malanda, lives and works in Paris, FR
  • Gyula Muskovics, lives and works in Budapest, HU
  • José Segebre, lives and works in Frankfurt/Main, DE
  • Lesia Prokopenko, lives and works in Kiev, UA
  • Nelago Shilongoh, lives and works in Windhoek, NA
  • Nicholas Laughlin, lives and works in Port of Spain, TT
  • Renée Mboya, lives and works in Nairobi, KE
  • Tshegofatso Mabaso, lives and works in Johannesburg, ZA

INVITED RESPONDENTS

The Curators Workshop acted as a close reading of the biennale format, with unique interjections from selected respondents. These guests included: Alya Sebti, Ana Teixeiro Pinto, Danai Mupotsa, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Esra Küçük, Gabi Ngcobo, Gabriele Horn, Gary Indiana, Henriette Sölter, Johanna Unzueta, Las Nietas de Nonó, Mario Pfeifer, Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Paola Bacchetta, Peggy Piesche, Rachel O’Reilly, Ruth Noack, Stefanie Peter, Thiago de Paula Souza, Thomas Girst, Tiziana Terranova, Tony Cokes, Yvette Mutumba, Zairong Xiang, and others.

PUBLIC BBX CRIT SESSIONS

Friday, 31.8.2018
Denise Ferreira da Silva and Tiziana Terranova in conversation with Antonia Majaca
Akademie der Künste, Clubraum

Saturday, 1.9.2018
Lecture by Paola Bacchetta
Akademie der Künste, Clubraum

Thursday, 6.9.2018
Lecture by Zairong Xiang
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Studio

Saturday, 8.9.2018
Final discussion of the Curators Workshop contributors
Akademie der Künste, Clubraum

The Curators Workshop BBX Crit Sessions was organized by the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Allianz Cultural Foundation, BMW Group, Goethe-Institut e. V., and Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa).

The public program as part of the Curators Workshop was supported by The Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung).

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) and organized by KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V.

Directed by Antonia Majaca and Sohrab Mohebbi