Where does the East begin? And who actually decided where the centre of Europe lies? Geographical coordinates are rarely as innocent as they appear on maps. They reveal power dynamics and historical interpretations. For a long time, the European continent has tended to view its history primarily from a Western perspective. Berlin, once itself divided between East and West, offers a particularly contradictory setting for the search for an answer to the question posed above. With its 14th edition, the Berlin Biennale ventures to shift its perspective. Under the title ‘Central Europe Eastern Time’, curator Vasyl Cherepanyn invites us to reinterpret Europe from the East, whilst also putting the familiar narratives about Berlin to the test. From 5 June to 12 September 2027, the city will become an artistic testing ground for a re-mapping in which the boundaries of our historical perception are up for debate.
Image above: © 14th Berlin Biennale 2027, Key Visual, graphic design: LSD Leonard Neumann
The 14th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art will take place from 5 June to 12 September 2027 at various venues across Berlin. This edition is curated by the Ukrainian philosopher Vasyl Cherepanyn, who is also director of the Visual Culture Research Centre, which he founded in Kyiv in 2008. Under the title ‘Central Europe Eastern Time’, the 14th Berlin Biennale proposes a new interpretation of Berlin from an Eastern perspective and opens up a view of Europe from the standpoint of those regions and political realities that have long been marginalised within the European narrative. The title serves as a navigational tool, an instrument for orientation. It describes a chronotope in which place (tópos) and time (chrónos) are inextricably linked. It highlights how changing political, economic and ideological systems shape human coexistence. In this sense, orientation is not merely a question of where we are, but also of how different historical and political eras coexist in our present. It expands the spatial and temporal coordinates already inherent in the name of the Berlin Biennale and situates the city within a broader Eastern European context, stretching from the Balkans to the Baltic states, from Central Europe to the South Caucasus and beyond.
Central Europe Eastern Time’ also explores the evolving relationship between East and West, which has become tangibly embedded in the city’s various historical layers: in its architecture, its institutions, its politics of memory and its social fabric. Building on this, the Berlin Biennale will take place at venues such as the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, as well as at other locations across the city. To this end, the Biennale enters the public realm, infrastructure, places of transit and the culture of remembrance: to those places where the conditions of the present are lived out, administered and contested; to places where social and political life is directly intertwined with issues of class, labour, citizenship and institutional control. Mapping thus becomes a guiding principle of the exhibition. Each location is considered in terms of its history, function and site-specific conditions, whilst their interplay charts a new topology of Berlin and different routes through the city. The focus is on artistic practices that reveal a precise understanding of their respective locations whilst simultaneously pointing to broader structures that shape the region and its present.
About the Berlin Biennale
The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art takes place every two years at different venues across Berlin. Since its first edition in 1998, the Berlin Biennale has been creating experimental exhibition and programme series, in collaboration with renowned curators, to present artistic and political perspectives within Berlin’s urban landscape. The Berlin Biennale explores contemporary international artistic developments and, thanks to its committed profile, is regarded as one of the most important exhibitions worldwide. Each edition brings together artists, influential voices and interested members of the public from various sectors of society, thereby fostering a dialogue with the city’s residents. The Berlin Biennale has been funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation as a leading cultural institution since 2004. The Berlin Biennale is organised by KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V.
WHEN?
Dates: Saturday 5 June – Sunday 12 September 2027
Opening: Friday 4 June 2027, 7 pm
WHERE?
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Hamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of Contemporary Art
and other venues in Berlin
