So, last weekend we did our tour on the 5th Berlin Biennial – with great hopes, cause last time around was pretty amazing. But now, 3 days later I am still in shock how bad it was. I mean, there was one thing we liked, which was the Pushwagner Exhibition at the Schinkelpavillion (which is quite small but free by the way), but the rest was pretty much a big disappointment. Read on to learn why.
Is it a yellow ladder leaning against a fence? No it’s art, dummy!
The KW is my personal favorite for contemporary art. They have a big hall that usually contains giant sculptures or installations that never seize to amaze me. For the 5th Biennial they made something really edgy with it: They paved it with black asphalt. It’s called Asphalt. Wow. I was speachless seeing a great space like that wasted for such a lame ass idea. The rest of the exhibition was also kind of a joke, except for Pushwagner’s interesting and seemingly endless Softcity comic strip. Although we didn’t bother to check out all the video pieces because the climate in the boths was just unbearable, so we can’t say much about these.
Is it a hideout for homeless people? No, it must be art then.
Our next stop was the Neue Nationalgalerie, also a place that usually doesn’t disappoint. The first letdown was that the exhibition of the Biennial was only upstairs. So it was kind of a quick walk through a handfull of uninspiring pieces, but not as bad as the ones at the KW I must admit. The giant fence sculpture with plastic gemstones at the door took the most attention I guess, but only because it was so big and shiny. How shallow.
Is it a muddy hole in the ground? No, it’s art. No, it’s a freakin’ hole!
And there are even some more. Looks like a very tidy mine field.
Our next spot was the Skulpturenpark. The weather was nice and I kinda had my hopes up because I like big pieces of art and I thought what can you do wrong with some decent sculptures. Well, how wrong I was. I must explain: I loathe trash art. It’s really something that annoys the shit out of me. If I see a pile of junk in the corner of a room and somebody tries to explain to me the meaning of it I just want to call the garbage collectors to have it removed. So I was kind of angry about this real estate wasteland in the middle of the city with some tilted scaffolds, muddy holes and piles of trash that they call the Sculpture Park. You can see on the photos that I’m not kidding you.
This all makes me wonder if the curators of this year’s Biennial were either blind or trying to make a fool out of us. Shame on you! I can only hope that some of the exhibitions and shows of the night part of the Biennial that are running on a daily basis until middle of June turn out to be decent…
