BERLIN.- The 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, titled passing the fugitive on, opened on June 13, 2025, at four locations in Berlin with over 170 works by more than 60 artists. More than half of the artworks are newly commissioned.

The encounter with foxes within the inner city of Berlin is a starting point for the 13th Berlin Biennale as an investigation of fugitivity. It examines the ability of works of art to set their own laws in the face of legislative violence in unjust systems, and to allow thinking to continue even under conditions of persecution, militarization, and ecocide. The title, passing the fugitive on, may be read as a missive or instruction piece to the receiver. Some fugitive content is passed, and the audience is now the receiver of cultural evidence.

The artists of the 13th Berlin Biennale are: Akademia Ruchu; Amol K Patil; Anawana Haloba; Anna Scalfi Eghenter; Armin Linke; Artcom Platform; Busui Ajaw; Bwanga “Benny Blow” Kapumpa; Chaw Ei Thein; Daniel Gustav Cramer; Elshafe Mukhtar; Etcétera; Exterra XX—Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt; flowers (Ceija Stojka, Erika Kobayashi, Fredj Moussa, Hannah Höch, Nyi Pu Lay and Ma Thida, OMARA Mara Oláh, Steve McQueen); Fredj Moussa; Freeszfe; fugitivity (Daniella Bastien, M. M. Thein, Steve McQueen); Gabriel Alarcón; Gernot Wieland; Gernot Wieland with Carla Åhlander & Konstantin von Sichart; Han Bing & Kashmiri Cabbage Walker; Helena Uambembe; Htein Lin; Huda Lutfi; Iris Yingzen; Isaac Kalambata; Jane Jin Kaisen; Judith Blum Reddy; Kazuko Miyamoto; Kikí Roca, Las Chicas del Chancho y el Corpiño; Larissa Araz; Luzie Meyer; Major Nom; Margherita Moscardini; Memory Biwa; Memory Biwa and guests (Anike Joyce Sadiq, Céline Barry, Lusine Khurshudyan); Merle Kröger; Mila Panić; Mila Panić and guests (Carmen Chraim, Deo Katunga, Maya Upchurch, Sasha Dolgopolov, Tamer Katan, Victor Patrascan); Milica Tomić; Nge Nom; Padmini Chettur; Panties for Peace; parallelgesellschaft; People’s Tribunal (with Bana Group for Peace and Development, ALPAS Pilipinas and International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP)—Germany, Sinthujan Varatharajah, Moshtari Hilal); Piero Gilardi; Salik Ansari; Sarnath Banerjee; Sawangwongse Yawnghwe; Shahana Rajani; Simon Wachsmuth; Stacy Douglas; The Fly (Htein Lin, Chaw Ei Thein); Tsuyoshi Ozawa (with Andreas Eberlein, Dagmar Tinschmann, Daisuke Deguchi, Jinran Kim, Kathrin Schiffbauer, Li Koelan, Manuela Warstat, Yuan Shun); Vikrant Bhise; Yoshiko Shimada and BuBu de la Madeleine; Zamthingla Ruivah Shimray; Zoncy Heavenly

Encounters series and fugitive acts

Through the running time of the exhibition, the artists propose encounters: from reading groups, scientific lectures, tribunals, and collective commemorative walks in the city, to small enacted jokes or comedy nights. Together, these acts form the Encounters series focusing on orality and bare forms of transmission. Some are conceived as fugitive acts, being unexpected, or of an ephemeral nature, that are not announced in advance. When the works of art speak directly, a sense of immediate complicity emerges between artwork and audience.

Program in June and July. The program for August and September will be announced at the beginning of July.

Venues and sister organizations

The 13th Berlin Biennale opens at the following locations in the city: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Sophiensæle, Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, and the former Courthouse Lehrter Straße. Highlighting independent institutions as incubators for artistic innovation in Berlin, the 13th Berlin Biennale has forged sisterhoods with cultural spaces deeply rooted in the city. Sections of the program are being hosted and organized in curatorial complicity with four sister organizations: ERIAC—European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, Filmrauschpalast Moabit, SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA, and Sophiensæle.

The artists of the Sister Organizations of the 13th Berlin Biennale

Boglárka Börcsök and Andreas Bolm; Dan Turner; Jéssica Teixeira; Katariina Lillqvist; Lali Gábor; Oliver Zahn; Simone Dede Ayivi & Kompliz*innen

The 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art is curated by Zasha Colah. Valentina Viviani is Assistant Curator.