April 30, 2008

Berlin Biennial

The organizers of the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art clearly aren't concerned with art fatigue. On the contrary, their marathon approach of showing work both by day and night testifies to their renewed enthusiasm for bringing emerging artists to the public's attention. In this issue of Artkrush, we discuss work from the biennial's five daytime venues, beginning with Manon de Boer's homage to John Cage, Two Times 4'33" at Kunst-Werke Institute, and Thea Djordjadze's sculpture strewn about the Neue Nationalgalerie. We highlight the painted collages and high-fashion abstractions of Paulina Olowska and interview fellow BB5 contributor Daniel Guzmán about his work and concurrent exhibition at New York's New Museum. For our media pick, we select The Joy of Photography — a monograph of outdoor photography by firebrand artist Piotr Uklański. Finally, our reviews open with intricate optical cyclones from Sangnam Lee's Landscapic Algorithm show in Seoul and close with Daniel Canogar's constrictive installations and videos in Geneva.