To paraphrase the Biennale print material
Do you believe in reality’ What a question, you’ll reply. Reality isn’t something you believe in. It proverbially catches up with you anyway - always. But then what are we talking about here’ Maybe we could talk about the fact that you so often hear people saying something was different ‘in reality’’ Or about why it has become so customary to add a ‘really’ or an ‘actually’ or an ‘in fact’ to so many of the things we say’ Let’s talk about the cracks in reality, about the gap between the world we talk about and the world that’s really there. But why this distinction’ Because reality is always the other’ Or the others’ Everything that’s waiting out there’ Let’s talk about the self-deceptions where reality becomes too painful. Let’s talk about the fictional arsenal of the mass media and consumerism, about the rhetoric of distraction and appeasement. Won’t that ultimately lead us to question contemporary art, and its relationship to reality’
Michael Schmidt’s photographic works are the first artistic contribution to the biennial and will accompany it in the public realm and the media throughout its duration. The biennial will be contextualized by an exhibition with works by Adolph Menzel (1815’1905), curated - at the invitation of Kathrin Rhomberg - by the American art historian Michael Fried in cooperation with the Alte Nationalgalerie, Old National Gallery and the Kupferstichkabinett, Museum of Prints and Drawings of the National Museums in Berlin.
Artists include:
Bernard Bazile (*1952 in Tulle/France), Mark Boulos (*1975 in Boston/USA), Mohamed Bourouissa (*1978 in Blida/Algeria), Olga Chernysheva (*1962 in Moscow/Russia), Phil Collins (*1970 in Runcorn/Great Britain), Minerva Cuevas (*1975 in Mexico City/Mexico), Shannon Ebner (*1971 in Englewood/USA), Nir Evron (*1974 in Herzliya/Israel), Marcus Geiger (*1957 in Muri/Switzerland), Ion Grigorescu (*1945 in Bucharest/Romania), Friedl vom Gröller (Kubelka) (*1946 in London/Great Britain), Nilbar Güres (*1977 in Istanbul/Turkey), Petrit Halilaj (*1986 in Skenderaj/Kosovo), Marlene Haring (*1978 in Vienna/Austria), Cameron Jamie (*1969 in Los Angeles/USA), Sven-Åke Johansson (*1943 in Mariestad/Sweden), Thomas Judin (*1982 in Frankfurt am Main/Germany), George Kuchar (*1942 in New York/USA), Andrey Kuzkin (*1979 in Moscow/Russia), Thomas Locher (*1956 in Munderkingen/Germany), Adrian Lohmüller (*1977 in Gengenbach/Germany), Armando Lulaj (*1980 in Tirana/Albania), Renzo Martens (*1973 in Sluiskil/The Netherlands), Adolph Menzel (*1815 in Breslau, † 1905 in Berlin), Avi Mograbi (*1956 in Tel-Aviv/Israel), Henrik Olesen (*1967 in Esbjerg/Denmark), Roman Ondák (*1966 in Zilina/Slovak Republic), Marion von Osten (*1963 in Dortmund/Germany), Ferhat Özgür (*1965 in Ankara/Turkey), Margaret Salmon (*1975 in New York/USA), Hans Schabus (*1970 in Watschig/Austria), Michael Schmidt (*1945 in Berlin/Germany), Ruti Sela (*1974 in Jerusalem/Israel) & Maayan Amir (*1978 in Hadera/Israel), Gedi Sibony (*1973 in New York/USA), John Smith (*1952 in London/Great Britain), Michael Stevenson (*1964 in Inglewood/New Zealand), Sebastian Stumpf (*1980 in Würzburg/Germany), Ron Tran (*1972 in Saigon/Vietnam), Danh Vo (*1975 in Saigon/Vietnam), Marie Voignier (*1974 in Ris-Orangis/France), Vincent Vulsma (*1982 in Zaandam/The Netherlands), Anna Witt (*1981 in Wasserburg am Inn/Germany), Pleurad Xhafa / Sokol Peçi (both *1984 in Albania)
