Curators Workshop: BBX Crit Sessions

Curators Workshop on the occasion of the 10th Berlin Biennale
Directed by Antonia Majaca and Sohrab Mohebbi
31.8.–9.9.2018

On the occasion of the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, curator Gabi Ngcobo and her team—Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Serubiri Moses, Thiago de Paula Souza, and Yvette Mutumba— have invited Antonia Majaca and Sohrab Mohebbi to rethink and expand the format of the Curators Workshop.

After a number of successful, theme-based workshops held in relation to the 4th to 9th editions of the Berlin Biennale, this iteration, as proposed by the workshop directors, is centered on the biennial exhibition itself. It encourages an exchange with the Berlin Biennale staff, curators, contributors, and participants. This edition of the Curators Workshop takes as its primary subject matter the parameters, resources, and tools offered by the Berlin Biennale. The program examines the exhibition as a complex network of material, political, and aesthetic contingencies. It focuses on its visible and invisible alliances and relations, using the biennial as a site of encounter and study.

The ten-day gathering with a group of fifteen contributors selected from nearly 400 applications is comprised of daily Crit Sessions involving analyses and discussions about the curatorial decisions, conceptual constellations, and individual artworks, in addition to close readings of accompanying discursive and publishing programs. The program also includes in-depth conversations with the curators, artists, contributors, invited respondents and lecturers, and the audience.


CONTRIBUTING CURATORS

Alina Belishkina, lives and works in Helsinki, FI
Amanda Carneiro Santos, lives and works in São Paulo, BR
Aziza Harmel, lives and works in Tunis, TN
Behzad Nejadghanbar, lives and works in Tehran, IR
Eva Posas, lives and works in Mexico City, MX
Giscard Bouchotte, lives and works in Port-au-Prince, HT
Gökcan Demirkazık, lives and works in Beirut, LB
Guslagie Malanda, lives and works in Paris, FR
Gyula Muskovics, lives and works in Budapest, HU
José Segebre, lives and works in Frankfurt/Main, DE
Lesia Prokopenko, lives and works in Kiev, UA
Nelago Shilongoh, lives and works in Windhoek, NA
Nicholas Laughlin, lives and works in Port of Spain, TT
Renée Mboya, lives and works in Nairobi, KE
Tshegofatso Mabaso, lives and works in Johannesburg, ZA


INVITED RESPONDENTS

The Curators Workshop acts as a close reading of the biennale format, with unique interjections from selected respondents. These guests include: These guests include: Alya Sebti, Ana Teixeiro Pinto, Antonia Majaca, Danai Mupotsa, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Esra Küçük, Elke Buhr, Federica Bueti, Gabi Ngcobo, Gabriele Horn, Gary Indiana, Grada Kilomba, Henriette Sölter, Johanna Unzueta, Las Nietas de Nonó, Mario Pfeifer, Mona Jas, Niklas Maak, Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Paola Bacchetta, Peggy Piesche, Rachel O’Reilly, Ruth Noack, Sohrab Mohebbi, Stefanie Peter, Thiago de Paula Souza, Thomas Girst, Tiziana Terranova, Tony Cokes, Tullia Tarsia in Curia, Yvette Mutumba, Zairong Xiang, and others.


PUBLIC BBX CRIT SESSIONS

Friday, 31.8.2018, 5–7 pm
Denise Ferreira da Silva and Tiziana Terranova in conversation with Antonia Majaca

Akademie der Künste, Clubraum

Saturday, 1.9.2018, 2–3:30 pm
Lecture by Paola Bacchetta

Akademie der Künste, Clubraum

Thursday, 6.9.2018, 4–5:30 pm
Lecture by Zairong Xiang

KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Studio

Saturday, 8.9.2018, 4–5:30 pm
Final discussion of the Curators Workshop contributors

Akademie der Künste, Clubraum

All events are held in English and admission is free. Due to limited capacity registration is required by e-mail at cw@berlinbiennale.de until 10 am on the day of the event at the latest.


The Curators Workshop BBX Crit Sessions is organized by the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Allianz Cultural Foundation, BMW Group, Goethe-Institut e. V., and Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa).

The public program as part of the Curators Workshop is supported by The Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung).

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) and organized by KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V.