KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V., the supporting association of KW Institute for Contemporary Art and the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2021.

The highlight of the program is the Anniversary Weekend on September 18 and 19, with a diverse program of events and performances created in collaboration with The Performance Agency and Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum, as well as the release of an extensive publication about the 30-year history of the institution.

In addition to the exhibition and anniversary program, workshops and guided tours will be held on site throughout the day on September 19. The exhibitions will be open with free admission and extended opening hours on September 18 from 11 am to 9 pm and on September 19 from 11 am to 7 pm.

We would like to point out that due to the current situation, our premises have limited capacity and ask for your understanding that therefore no pre-registrations and reservations can be accepted. For all events, visitors are asked to proof their vaccination status, show a current test, or a proof of recovery upon entry (3G-Regelung). For contact tracking, please use the Luca or Corona-Warn app. We apologize in advance for any waiting times.

Saturday, 18 September 21, 11 am–9 pm

Hosted by Krist Gruijthuijsen & Pansy

Colin Self: Four Criminal Ballads

With the choir of the Berlin Cappella

3 and 5 pm, 15 minutes each

Venue: KW Courtyard

Four Criminal Ballads presents four choral compositions performed by Berliner Cappella and guest singers under the direction of Sergi Gili Solé, written by Colin Self. Arrangement in collaboration with Justin Wong.

Battle-ax and guests: String Concert I & II

6:30 pm and 7:30 pm

Venue: KW Courtyard

Battle-ax invites three solo string instrumentalists to perform together in a set of two concerts.

Eric D Clark

DJ Set

7 and 10 pm

Venue: KW Courtyard

Peaches & Clusterfuck

Live concert followed by a DJ Set

9:30 pm

Venue: KW Courtyard

Limited capacity 

Sunday, 19 September 21, 11 am–7 pm

Curator’s Tour with Anna Gritz through the exhibition Zeros and Ones

12 pm, in English

Meeting point: KW Counter

Workshop: Bizarre buildings

Open workshop

2–5 pm

Location: KW Courtyard, no pre-registration necessary

Based on the architecture of Café Bravo and other buildings, we will playfully expand and redesign familiar objects in unusual shapes. The workshop will result in small, odd fantasy buildings that will find a new home in KW’s courtyard or elsewhere.

Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum: Game of Life

Interactive performance game

3–5 pm

Venue: KW, 4th floor

In Game of Life, visitors venture through a fictitious life trajectory based on various event-cards which explore questions of identity, community, love, gender, and migration. For KW’s 30th anniversary, Jugendgremium Schattenmusem presents an updated version of the game, which was initially created in 2018 as part of the exhibition A wie jüdisch, as a cooperation between sideviews e. V., the Jewish Museum Berlin, and Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum.

Guided Tour through the exhibition Michael Stevenson: Disproof Does Not Equal Disbelief

4 pm, in German

Meeting point: KW Counter

Chino Amobi

Sound Performance

From 4:30 pm

Venue: KW Courtyard

Saturday & Sunday

Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum: Back to ME

11 am – 6 pm

Venue: Education space, side wing, ground floor, on the right

Back to ME is an installation curated by Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum on the occasion of KW’s 30th anniversary. The young curators invite you into an interactive space in which visitors can engage with themselves. In this exhibition, the prejudices of others can be separated from your own self-perception. The space offers an intimate atmosphere for self-reflection and can also be a place for silent communication.

Conversation Piece II

Private conversations under the oversized skirt ‘Hameau de la Reine’ with Krist Gruijthuijsen, Jan Verwoert, Atelier Le Balto, Pandora Graessl, Jaga Rudolf, Irene Accordo, and many more

1–6 pm

Venue: KW Courtyard

Framing the program is the Conversation Piece II, for which The Performance Agency brings back the ‘Hameau de la Reine’, the magnified skirt of Marie- Antoinette, in a new outfit designed by Celeste Burlina. The ballgown functions as a pavilion for private encounters to take place under the skirt, in the comfort and intimacy of the boudoir. Visitors are invited to meet and hold one-on-one conversations with a series of guests that have been involved with the institution and its histories. Walk-ins are welcome!

Albrecht Pischel: Commission Roundabout

1–6 pm (Sat), 1–3 pm (Sun)

Venue: KW Courtyard

A project conceived by Albrecht Pischel with sculptures by Michaela Melián, Olu Oguibe, Cibelle Cavalli Bastos, Kris Lemsalu Malone & Kyp Malone Lemsalu, Raed Yassin, Ingo Niermann, and Nschotschi Haslinger.

Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum x Archiv KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V.: Room 38–40

11 am–7 pm, with an open slide workshop from 2–6 pm

Venue: KW Studio, front house, first floor

Based on the KW archive and the first projects of the institution from the early 1990s, the Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum enlists itself in KW in 2021 with an interactive intervention. The focus is on the photographic slide. Visitors are invited to develop and propose curatorial concepts for their own spaces, accompanied by the Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum. Guided tours, experiments, and performative workshops form the framework for an archive and slide workshop for all visitors.

KW Installation Team: 9:9:2

11 am – 7 pm

Venue: KW front house, ground floor

In reference to the Salon Kartenrecht, the members of the KW Installation Team show their artistic works in the exhibition 9:9:2. The artist group Kartenrecht was founded in the early 2000s by KW Installation Team members, who presented their own exhibitions in a small room on the 3rd floor of KW, called the “Salon”. The room has been closed due to fire protection and renovation work. The exhibition 9:9:2, which will take place during the anniversary weekend in the front house of KW and at Studio 8 (Grüntaler Str. 8, 13357 Berlin), revives the idea of the Salon Kartenrecht. You can find more information here.

Commissions

As part of 30 Years of KW, three works have been commissioned, and are there for the listening, seeing, feeling and smelling: Rosa (2002/2021) by Susan Philipsz, Deutschland wird deutscher (1993/2021) by Katharina Sieverding and KWOPE_2021 (2021) by Sissel Tolaas.

After two years of close collaboration with KW’s art education department, the Berlin-based design and research practice forty-five degrees designed a series of spatial interventions showcased as part of the anniversary weekend’s program. From the courtyard to the attic, the interventions encourage visitors to collect, play, and engage with the public, including the stage scaffolding and the board for the Game of Life.

forty-five-degrees.com

In 1992, Kunst-Werke Berlin marked their second year with 37 Räume (37 Rooms), whose opening was timed to coincide with that of documenta IX. During the exhibition, a large number of Berlin-based curators, critics and artists showed work at thirty-seven spaces (shops, apartments, galleries) along Auguststraße. In hindsight, 37 Räume can be seen as a prototype for the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.

As part of 30 Years of KW, on September 18 and 19, 2021, the concept of 37 Räume will once again be explored in the same neighborhood, guiding visitors along the Scheunenviertel to Auguststraße 69. On both days, a performance and music program will be presented here, as well as interventions by the collective Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum, which playfully explore the (archival) structures and founding processes of a contemporary art institution.

You can find more information on the participants of 37 Räume REVISITED here.

KW Institute for Contemporary Art and the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art are organized by KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V. KW is institutionally supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The Berlin Biennale is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). The Kulturstiftung des Bundes is funded by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).

The publication KW, a history, edited by Klaus Biesenbach, Jenny Dirksen, Krist Gruijthuijsen and Gabriele Horn and published by DISTANZ, was made possible as part of the anniversary program of Kunst-Werke e. V. by the support of Volkswagen AG, Ólafur Elíasson, Julia Stoschek, Marina Kellen French Foundation, wissensART, and KW Freunde.

The program of the Anniversary Weekend as part of 30 Years of KW is developed in collaboration with The Performance Agency and Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum. Jugendgremium Schattenmuseum is organised by sideviews e. V. and supported by the PWC-Stiftung. The Performance Agency would like to thank the Kemmler Foundation.