Biennale Berlino The 1st berlin biennale for contemporary art opened on 30 September 1998. For three months, more than 70 international artists showed works, which for the most part were produced specially for the exhibition Berlin/Berlin. The venues were the Akademie der Künste on Pariser Platz, the former Postfuhramt in Oranienburger Straße, and the rooms of the Kunst-Werke, Institute for Contemporary Art in Auguststraße. Having assumed the task of representing contemporary art, with reference to its complexities the 1st berlin biennale followed an interdisciplinary course and provided a forum for artists, architects, designers, writers, musicians, choreographers, fashion- designers, film-makers and theatre directors. The Opening Week began with a meal, conceived by the Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija for 1,000 guests, at the gym of the Postfuhramt and closed with the congress 3000 at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. For three evenings in succession, a combination of symposium and festival took place there, providing a platform for local and international artists. In the months that followed the opening, the highlights of the biennale included DJ evenings in the room installation by the group 3 de luxe, and lectures and readings by the exhibiting artists. More than 80,000 visitors and countless articles in the international press are proof of the overwhelming response to the 1st berlin biennale. The objective of the berlin biennale für zeitgenössische kunst e.v. is to provide an international forum every two years for the most recent developments in the fine arts and related sectors. Press Release, June 29, 2001 Positive response: 60,000 people visited the 2nd berlin biennale for Contemporary Art The international exhibition on show in the former Postfuhramt, the Kunst-Werke Berlin, the railway arches at Jannowitzbrücke and the Allianz Treptowers was seen by 60,000 people from Germany and abroad, including 1,800 press and media representatives. The renowned curator and director of the De Appel Foundation in Amsterdam, Saskia Bos, provided the concept for the 2nd berlin biennale. Inspired by the key terms connectedness, contribution and commitment, she selected works by about 50 artists from more than 30 countries. Her focal point was film and video works and installations that sought to enter into a relationship with the spectator or interact with the public. Saskia Bos, curator of the 2nd berlin biennale and director of De Appel, Centre for Contemporary Art in Amsterdam, has taken the keywords "connectedness", "commitment" and "contribution" as points of departure. These issues indicate a stepping away from self-referentiality in art as well as distance from issues of the ego. Unlike artistic positions taken in the 1960s and 70s, this art is concerned not so much with general social changes, but with "one-to-one-relationships, small, feasible utopias" (Saskia Bos). For these artists it is "more important to relate than to express". Many of their works show an either critical or witty attitude towards the art system. Saskia Bos defines the art space as a free space allowing people to reflect but not to solve problems right there and then. For her the function of a biennial in general is to serve as a creative practice, a laboratory and as an opportunity for the production of meaning. Many of the artists participating in the 2nd berlin biennale are showing for the first time works in Germany, respectively in Berlin. Almost half of the works of art have been created especially for the 2nd berlin biennale. There will be a wide spectrum represented in the show, from performances, photography and paintings up to sculptures. The main focus, however, lies on installations, film and video works. Curator Saskia Bos, director of the De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, focuses on artists and works of art that connect to the other, to the viewer, or engage in issues that have a social or participatory character. Concern, contribution, connectedness with the world outside will be explored in the show, as well as an awareness and critique of the art system with all its layers, its codes and self-referentiality. There will be paintings explicitly explaining the process of their own genesis, couches to lie on where one becomes the sculptor's model, witty dialogues on video about who's who in the art world, alternated with film projections where those who are portrayed exotically, are looking back in anger. Who is the object? Who is looking at whom? As visitors are invited to actively engage in works, sensibilities sharpen and layers of meaning are added to the manifold individual installations. The exhibition will be hosted at two major venues in Berlin-Mitte: the "Kunst-Werke Berlin", Institute for Contemporary Art, and, at five minutes walking distance, the former "Postfuhramt". A few artworks will be exhibited in the S-Bahnbögen Jannowitzbrücke and the Allianz Treptowers. List of artists Darren Almond (1971, Great Britain), London Carlos Amorales (1970, Mexico), Amsterdam and Mexico City Kutlug Ataman (1961, Turkey), London Fiona Banner (1966, Great Britain), London Elisabetta Benassi (1966, Italy), Rome David Claerbout (1969, Belgium), Brussels Ayse Erkmen (1949, Turkey), Berlin and Istanbul Inka Essenhigh (1969, USA), New York City Parastou Forouhar (1962, Iran), Frankfurt on the Main Alicia Framis (1967, Spain), Amsterdam and Berlin Kendell Geers (1968, South Africa), London and Johannesburg Simryn Gill (1959,Singapore), Sydney, & Liisa Roberts (1969, France), New York City and Helsinki Liam Gillick (1964, Great Britain), London and New York City Renée Green (1959, USA), New York City and Vienna Joseph Grigely (1956, USA), New Jersey Henrik Håkansson (1968, Sweden), Berlin Swetlana Heger (1968, Czech Republic), Berlin and Vienna, & Plamen Dejanov (1970, Bulgaria), Berlin and Vienna Christian Jankowski (1968, Germany), Berlin Katarzyna Józefowicz (1956, Poland), Gdansk Korpys/Löffler (Andree Korpys, 1966, Germany/Markus Löffler, 1963, Germany), Berlin Surasi Kusolwong (1965, Thailand), Bangkok Claude Lévêque (1953, France), Montreuil-Sous-Bois Little Warsaw (Bálint Havas, 1971, Hungary/András Gálik, 1970, Hungary), Budapest Aernout Mik (1962, Netherlands), Amsterdam Jonathan Monk (1969, Great Britain), Berlin Muntean/Rosenblum (Markus Muntean, 1962, Austria/Adi Rosenblum, 1962, Israel), Vienna Hajnal Németh (1972, Hungary), Budapest Manuel Ocampo (1965, Philippines), Berkeley Tsuyoshi Ozawa (1965, Japan), Tokyo João Penalva (1949, Portugal), London Dan Peterman (1960, USA), Chicago Patricia Piccinini (1965, Sierra Leone), Melbourne Qiu Shi Hua (1940, China), Shenzhen Arturas Raila (1962, Lithuania), Vilnius Navin Rawanchaikul (1971, Thailand), Chiang Mai Rosângela Rennó (1962, Brasil), Rio de Janeiro Daniel Roth (1969, Germany), Karlsruhe Anri Sala (1974, Albania), Paris Ann-Sofi Sidén (1962, Sweden), New York City and Stockholm Superflex (Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, 1968, Denmark/Jakob Fenger, 1969, Denmark/ Rasmus Nielsen, 1969, Denmark), Copenhagen Apolonija Sustersic (1965, Slovenia), Haarlem Fiona Tan (1966, Indonesia), Amsterdam Xu Tan (1957, China), Guangzhou and Foshan Joanne Tatham (1972, Great Britain), Glasgow, & Tom O'Sullivan (1968, Great Britain), Glasgow Pascale Marthine Tayou (1967, Cameroon), Yaoundé and Brussels Fred Tomaselli (1956, USA), New York City Octavian Trauttmansdorff (1965, Austria), Vienna Keith Tyson (1969, Great Britain), London 2nd berlin biennale for contemporary art Catalogue A two-volume bilingual English-German catalogue will be published for the 2nd berlin biennale. Volume 1 will be launched to coincide with the opening of the exhibition on April 20, 2001. It will include an introduction by the curator of the 2nd berlin biennale, Saskia Bos, entitled 'Beyond the Self" as well as essays by the renowned critics and curators Nicolas Bourriaud and Charles Esche. They will explore the central ideas behind the show: how artist engage, critique and contribute to contemporary society through their varied practices. Furthermore, each of the contributing artists will be presented with full colour images and individual texts. Many artists have engaged in discussions with the editors exploring their practice. This interactive approach has generated diverse contributions ranging from conversations to monologues, even maps. The artists or their authors tackle the gamut of artistic practice today with irreverent humour, intelligent criticality and a pragmatic self-awareness. Volume 2 will be available a few weeks after the opening of the 2nd berlin biennale. It will focus specifically on the realised exhibition with full colour reproductions of the works in Berlin. Editorial team Saskia Bos, Annie Fletcher, Boris Kremer, Lisa Holden, Gerrie Van Noord, Martijntje van Schooten Extracts from conversations and statements in the catalogue 'My selection of found footage reveals how I relate to my environment - why am I drawn to one image or fragment and not another? Why do I identify with it? Identification being a key word when thinking about how we receive and perceive images.' Fiona Tan, January 2001 'You're right, sometimes generous communal interaction with "art" can be pretentious. For god's sake it's art, not life! I think your work is "interactive" - it's a virus that takes over your consciousness, makes you sick, until you recover through rigorous discombobulation!' Arvin Floris in conversation with Manuel Ocampo, January 2001 'I am particularly interested in the decision-making moment, the moment where the