* Berlin Biennale: We don’t need another hero

The 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art invites the public to engage the artists and other contributors in an open exchange of ideas. I want to rethink the configuration of power and knowledge, curator Gabi Ngcobo says. Framing a perspective from Europe, Germany, and Berlin as a city in dialogue with the world, the 10th Berlin Biennale examines the persistent fears and concerns of our time. Referencing Tina Turner’s 1985 song We Don’t Need Another Hero, it revisits a period immediately preceding major geopolitical shifts that went hand in hand with regime changes and the emergence of new historical protagonists. The 10th Berlin Biennale does not propose to offer a coherent interpretation of history (or histories) or the present, but it explores the political potential of strategies of selfpreservation. The catalog accompanying includes extensive materials on participating artists. The unique design by Maziyar Pahlevan, featuring the names of all contributors on the book’s edge, makes it a musthave for bibliophiles. With essays by Maryse Conde, Jota Mombaca, Peggy Piesche, Binyavanga Wainaina, a. o.