Page 50 - "he 2020 Guggenheim issue of World of Art Contemporary Art Magazine

“The crack begins within” are words borrowed from
poet Iman Mersal. She explores the many ghosts of
motherhood, tearing apart its contemporary morals.
She begins with the refusal to become the sacrificed,
the “egg that the newborn breaks en route to life.” She
EXP. 4: rummages in the crevices of this dissent, exploring the
many ways that within all the brokenness the mother
11TH BERLIN BIENNALE and child carry, there is pain and beauty, mourning and
THE CRACK BEGINS WITHIN living. As the epilogue of the Biennale The Crack Begins
5 September to 1 November 2020 Within calls out the fallacy of claiming for oneself the
The 11th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art opened destruction of the old and the birthing of the new,
the epilogue at four venues under the title The Crack refloated so many times by the white fathers as a new
Begins Within. scaffolding to secure the continuity of their decaying
structures. This is the violence that surrounds us, and
that we are a part of.
The fourth part of the 11th Berlin Biennale, which
merges our activities from the past months, would The Crack Begins Within comprises the overlapping
have opened this week. Despite the major challenges experiences of the artworks gathered here, breathing
posed by the global pandemic, we have decided to together, touching and moving one another. It is a
move forward with this final chapter. Since September testament to the powerful collective stories they
2019, the Biennale has been unfolding in a temporary tell, the work they do, and the things they shatter.
project space in Berlin in three different experiences. The epilogue is an exercise of mutual recognition,
Presentations, performances, workshops, and artist an acknowledgement of the cracks in the system, of
residencies have taken place as precursors to this last those broken by it and their struggles. As the carceral
experience, the epilogue, articulating diverse modes politics of compartmentalization are cracked open,
of solidarity, fragility, and resistance that take on new art will not disappear into nothingness, but flow into
meaning today in light of the pandemic and the social everything.
inequalities it continues to expose. From September
5, the upcoming exhibition, the epilogue, will bring
together in four locations these experiences and the exp. 3: Affect Archives. Sinthujan Varatharajah – Osías Yanov, 11th Berlin
issues they raise. Biennale c/o ExRotaprint, 22.2.–2.5.2020, extended until 25.7.2020
Installation view. Photo: Mathias Völzke

Under this year’s title “The Crack Begins Within” the
11th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art presents
its final chapter from September 5 to November 1,
2020: an epilogue conceived to merge the activities
from the past months. Since its inception in 1998,
the Biennale has become one of the most important
events of contemporary art worldwide and shows the
latest relevant and challenging positions independent
of the art market’s and collection’s interests. The BMW
Group is long-term corporate partner of the Berlin
Biennale.

50 WORLD of ART