8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art and other venues >>fresh news

Andreas Angelidakis: Crash Pad
26 January–3 August 2014 | Opening: 25 January, 2–6 pm

Crash Pad by Andreas Angelidakis is the first commissioned work of the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. The room installation opens on January 25, 2014, as a preliminary statement of the 8th Berlin Biennale.

With Crash Pad Angelidakis creates a multi-purpose room with a library in the front building of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, drawing upon the idea of the 19th century salon as a setting for cultural and political conversations. The installation reflects the two conflicting systems that modernized Greece in the 19th century: The Europeanized Greek diaspora (educated in Germany, France and England and influenced by the invention of antiquity there) and the peasant guerrilla fighters under general Theodoros Kolokotronis. Crash Pad also refers to the first bankruptcy of modern Greece in 1893, which brought about a predecessor of the International Monetary Fund, put in place by France, England and Germany in order to supervise the debt of Greece.

Crash Pad offers a space for events, discussion and exchange within the 8th Berlin Biennale, as well as a place for contemplation and exchange for the traveling artists arriving at KW: A domesticated ruin and a thank-you note from a Norwegian-Greek architect to the German idea of antiquity.

Besides the Crash Pad and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art takes place at Haus am Waldsee and Museen Dahlem - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Dahlem Museums - National Museums in Berlin). Thus for its 8th edition, the Berlin Biennale is collaborating with spaces already dedicated to art and to culture, establishing a refreshing cartography of the city, which will take us to parts of town unexplored by previous editions of the Berlin Biennale.

Both Haus am Waldsee and Museen Dahlem are extremely important landmarks in the city's cultural composition of the mid- to late 20th century; Museen Dahlem for having hosted the collections of art of West Berlin and now the house of three museums (Ethnologisches Museum, Museum für Asiatische Kunst and Museum Europäischer Kulturen); and Haus am Waldsee for rising to prominence since 1946 as one of the main venues for contemporary art. Since the 1990s, however, there has been a concentration of culture in Berlin-Mitte, a gradual but significant shift in the city's composition. It is very exciting for us to be able to collaborate with these two essential institutions, and imperative for the Berlin Biennale, in 2014, to show that the city has a broader cartography than usually imagined, if not engaged with.

About the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art | 29 May–3 August 2014

The 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art will bring together a range of local and international artistic positions that explore the intersection between larger historical narratives and individuals' lives. Thus, the 8th Berlin Biennale aims to counterpoise the empirical and the authoritative approaches to history and historical becoming. The research for the 8th Berlin Biennale is structured along three speculative approaches toward the city of Berlin: in its relationship to the built environment, in its relationship to citizenship, and in its relationship to labor. Another focus lies on ways in which the 18th and 19th century Berlin is contemplated within our current cultural landscape. The 8th Berlin Biennale will open its doors to the public on May 28, 2014.

about Crash Pad: 
Andreas Angelidakis: Crash Pad is supported by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) and OUTSET. Greece. Courtesy the artist and The Breeder, Athens/Monaco.The Crash Pad will be located on the first floor of KW's front house and will remain open until the closing of the 8th Berlin Biennale. Opening hours: Saturday and Sunday 2–6pm.

practical info:
8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststraße 69
10117 Berlin

Crash Pad
c/o KW Institute for Contemporary Art, front house
Auguststraße 69
10117 Berlin

Haus am Waldsee
Argentinische Allee 30
14163 Berlin

Museen Dahlem - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Lansstraße 8
14195 Berlin


Further information:
Henriette Sölter: T +49 30 243459 42 / press@berlinbiennale.de
more about it here: