THE 4TH BERLIN BIENNALE
HAPPENINGText: Yoshito Maeoka
Someone is approaching on an ice field from miles away. When you look close, it is a naked man on skates. He circles around the camera and disappears.
Jaan Toomik, Father and Son, 1998
This video by Jaan Toomik is humorous, but something mysterious lingers.
Roland Flexner, Untitled, 1993-1995
In a room about the size of bathroom, there is an old mirror, next to skewed faces drawn by dots. These drawings are done by Roland Flexner.
Felix Gmelin, Sound and Vision, 2005
In a video by Felix Gmelin, an old teacher is giving sex education to the children in a classroom. The children were directly touching beautiful male and female nudes from the breasts to their sexual organs because they were blind.
Robert Kuśmirowski, Wagon, 2006
As you enter another classroom, you are suddenly confronted with an enormous railway wagon. Did someone bring such a heavy object all the way up here? Thinking about the possibilities, but realistically speaking, it is still impossible. Later, the person in charge told me that Robert Kusimirowski, an artist who specializes in highly sophisticated imitation, made the wagon entirely out of paper, wood and styrofoam. However, the sleepers and rail tracks are real.
Paul McCarthy, Bang Bang Room, 1992
A massive object by Paul McCarthy is exhibited in a former gymnastic hall. Doors in the walls are wide opened. In an instant, all of the walls bang close and open with loud noise, while the doors remain ajar, and the movement repeats.
This article is merely a general overview to the exhibition. I would like to add that there are many more artists and fine works than I could cover in this article. While keeping a certain degree of direction, the exhibition shows great variety. It is fascinating and calls to mind the long history of Europe.
The 4th Berlin Biennale
Date: March 25th – May 28th, 2006
Place: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, etc., Berlin
https://www.berlinbiennale.de
Text: Yoshito Maeoka
Translation: Nem Kienzle
Photos: Yoshito Maeoka