The 13th Berlin Biennale sees itself not only as an exhibition, but also as a place that opens itself up to unexpected and ephemeral acts through the series of Encounters. Such activations take place at all four exhibition venues, not all of which are announced.
Image avobe: Mila Panić, Big Mouth [Große Klappe], 2025, Installationsansicht, 13. Berlin Biennale, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Pogo Bar, 2025. © Mila Panić, eastcontemporary; Bild: Eberle & Eisfeld
Theatre productions, reading groups, lectures, tribunals, spoken word events and stand-up comedy evenings have been very well received so far, partly because they aim to create surprising encounters based on complicity and a different relationship between the work and the audience.
Admission to the Encounters is free, but registration is requested. Tickets for events developed with sister organisations are available directly from them.
Programme for August and September 2025
Open Air Screening by the sister organization Filmrauschpalast Moabit at Kulturfabrik:
Watermelon Man (USA, 1970, dir. Melvin Van Peebles)
Protagonist Jeff Gerber has everything — wife, two kids, house, and job. But he is a loud racist. One morning, he wakes up and realizes he has become a Black man. Melvin Van Peebles creates a sarcastic counterworld to the entertainment cinema of the late 60s and early 70s, criticizing stereotypes, racism, and social constraints. Van Peebles’ soundtracks are considered defining for jazz today.
Date: August 8, 2025, 9:15–11:00 PM
Location: Filmrauschpalast Moabit, Kulturfabrik
Memory Biwa with Anike Joyce Sadiq: Yvette Abrahams Reading Cycle
The Memory Biwa installation explores sites of memory and embodied transmission — worlds made of words. The Yvette Abrahams Reading Cycle works with guests on topics such as mutable monuments, Black geographies, and ecologies. The cycle honors Yvette Abrahams, healer, organic farmer, and historian from South Africa.
Date: August 9, 2025, 3:30–4:30 PM
Location: Former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, 1st floor, Memory Biwa exhibition
Mila Panić with Victor Patrascan: Big Mouth, 2025
Six stand-up comedy evenings featuring a 45-minute main set by Mila Panić, each complemented by a local Berlin comedian. Panić addresses war, empathy, and victim roles through personal stories from Bosnia and Germany. Known for sharp, provocative humor.
Date: August 14, 2025, 8:30–9:30 PM
Location: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Pogo Bar
Memory Biwa with Céline Barry and Gifty Amoateng: Yvette Abrahams Reading Cycle
Continuation of the reading series, supported by AfroPolitan Berlin.
Date: August 16, 2025, 3:30–4:30 PM
Location: Former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, 1st floor, Memory Biwa exhibition
ALPAS Pilipinas; International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, Germany (ICHRP Germany); Gabriela Germany: People’s Tribunal on Art for Resisting Oppression — Philippine cases
Two People’s Tribunals on human rights violations and crimes against humanity that have received no justice from state or international institutions. Focus on the right to cultural expression as part of political and economic struggles. Witnesses are Philippine artists, some in exile.
Date: August 24, 2025, 4:00–8:00 PM
Location: Fabriktheater Moabit, Kulturfabrik Moabit
Mila Panić with Sasha Dolgopolov: Big Mouth, 2025
Continuation of the stand-up comedy series with a new guest.
Date: August 28, 2025, 8:30–9:30 PM
Location: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Pogo Bar
Jelena Petrović with Catherine Hass, Sami Khatib, Milica Tomić: What Does the Name of War Stand for Today? Sequence 1: Mathemes of Articulation: Against the Logic of Erasure
Discussion about genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes of the 1990s from the Yugoslav perspective. Addresses political subjectivation and the imperial-fascist continuum of modern warfare.
Date: August 29, 2025, 5:00–6:30 PM
Location: Former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, Ground Floor, Milica Tomić exhibition
Jelena Petrović with Aleksandar Matković and Godofredo Enes Pereira: What Does the Name of War Stand for Today? Sequence 2: Is There Anything in This World You Would Be Ready to Give Your Life For?
Talk on extractivism as a global political system shaping war logics and causing environmental damage, exemplified by lithium mining in Serbia.
Date: September 5, 2025, 5:00–6:30 PM
Location: Former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, Ground Floor, Milica Tomić exhibition
Program of the sister organization Sophiensæle:
Boglárka Börcsök and Andreas Bolm: Subjoyride
Performance about the life and work of German Dadaist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874–1927). A powerful mix of performance, poetry, and sculpture capturing the spirit of a punk pioneer.
Date: September 10, 2025, 8:00–10:00 PM
Repeats: September 11–13, 2025, 9:00–11:00 PM
Location: Sophiensæle, Hochzeitssaal
Oliver Zahn: Crowd Control
Theater piece that stages simulated riot police exercises in demonstrations and unrest scenarios, blurring the line between theater and police tactics.
Date: September 11–14, 2025, 7:00–9:30 PM
Location: Sophiensæle, Festsaal
Mila Panić with Tamer Kattan: Big Mouth, 2025
Another evening of the stand-up series with a new Berlin guest.
Date: September 11, 2025, 8:30–9:30 PM
Location: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Pogo Bar
Sarnath Banarjee: Critical Imagination Deficit Lecture 3: Other People’s Nostalgia, 2025
Lecture and performance on political and social rifts between diaspora and newcomers, told through the medium of comics.
Date: September 12, 2025, 6:00–7:00 PM
Location: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Studio
Part of the sister organization SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA’s film series:
Fugitive Traces: Challenging Narratives and Power Structures: Esquirlas (Argentina 2020, dir. Natalia Garayalde)
Documentary about a 1995 military arsenal explosion in Río Tercero and its long-lasting effects.
Date: September 13, 2025, 6:00–7:15 PM
Location: SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA
Gernot Wieland with Carla Åhlander and Konstantin von Sichart: Monologue of a sock or What would we have told the children?, 2025
Lecture-performance oscillating between memory and fiction, featuring stories about animals, childhood, and hierarchies — absurd, touching, anarchic.
Date: September 14, 2025, 3:00–3:40 PM and 5:00–5:40 PM
Location: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Studio
WHEN?
August – September 2025 (see individual program items)
WHERE?
13th Berlin Biennale, various locations in Berlin (KW Institute for Contemporary Art, former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, Kulturfabrik Moabit, Sophiensæle, SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, etc.)
COST?
Encounters are free, registration recommended. Tickets for some events through partner organizations.
