concept: Artistic Associate Carsten Saeger & Curator Sophia Scherer
collaborations: Lecturer Clemens Fellmann, Artistic Associate (Visual communication) Adrian Palko
location: Biennale Venedig, IRRE Space Weimar
date: October 21, 2024 – February 03, 2025
formats: excursion, exhibition, workshop
poster contributions by:
Enes Alba, Anil Anil Aydınoğlu, Zeynep Bodur, Raisa Bosich, Carolina Diaz, James Lepp, Krittaporn Mahaweerarat, Erphaneh Sadeghzadeh, Difei Song, Emily Thomas, Kitman Yeung
and performative concept ‘Kartoffiennale’ by Ameer Al-Masoud & Heichelheimer Kartoffel, Potato stamp performance and installation by Emily Thomas
guest talks by:
Serge Klymko & Benjamin Gruner (Pochen Biennale/Kiev Biennale) November 25, 2025 at Nova Space Weimar & Adrian Palko (Artistic Associate, Visual Communication, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) on the visual identity of national pavilions at the Venice Biennale
short description:
The concept of the biennial and major exhibition has led to increasingly controversial discussions in recent years - too big, too expensive, too unecological. However, well-known formats such as Venice, Sao Paulo or the Documenta retain their important places on the contemporary art compass. Are these mega-shows simply too established or “too big to fail”? At the same time, like museums, they have become popular projection surfaces for political debates. So what is so fascinating about this concept? In this specialist course, we want to examine the concept of the biennale or large-scale exhibition together. To begin with, we will travel to Venice to experience the mechanisms of this oldest international exhibition format on site. Accompanied by an introduction to the topic by Sophie Scherer, we will look at historical and contemporary artistic positions that may have responded to specific conditions in the context of the major exhibition and/or, conversely, were only made possible by the format.
In cooperation with Clemens Fellmann's science module, we want to find out whether and, if so, how these mechanisms can be transferred to rural areas. Clemens Fellmann will present us with successful and problematic examples in various problem analyses. Performative exercises (‘Sense of Belonging’) developed by him support approaches to site-specific work.
Finally, we venture to consider how a similar exhibition format could be conveyed as a counter-model via a (visual) concept in/around Weimar. In cooperation with Adrian Palko and as part of a RISO printing workshop, posters for a fictional biennial in Weimar will be produced and then presented at IRRE Space Weimar.
photos: Carsten Saeger, 2025
Specialist Module by Artistic Associate Carsten Saeger (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar / Faculty of Art and Design / Public Art and New Artistic Strategies), WS 2024/25: De-Biennalize