Axel Wieder has been appointed the new director of the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. Wieder will take office on 1 August 2024 and will assume managing operations for the 13th Berlin Biennale in 2025, curated by Zasha Colah. He succeeds Gabriele Horn, who has been director of the Berlin Biennale since 2002.
Wieder comes from Bergen Kunsthall where he has been director since 2018. In a statement about the appointment, Wieder says, ‘The Berlin Biennale is one of the most outstanding experimental platforms for contemporary art in the world – it makes new curatorial approaches and artistic positions accessible to a broad public while consistently maintaining its critical vantage point.’ He continues, ‘It is important to me to continue to open the Berlin Biennale up to urban society, develop collaborations, and redefine its relationship to Berlin as an art hub. In doing so, I view the long-term project process of the biennale model as an important quality, one that facilitates investing into substantive debates and dialogue.’
