Curated by Ute Meta Bauer

The high expectations for a flourishing gallery scene that accompanied Berlin’s inaugural biennial in 1998 have since been tempered by a stubbornly stagnant economy. Despite the setbacks, the city’s relatively unpolished, do-it-yourself approach makes it a key site of European art production, if not always consumption. The artistic director for this third biennial, Ute Meta Bauer (a member of the Documenta 11 team), has invited five guest curators and roughly forty-five artists to address what she calls thematic “hubs”—Urban Conditions, Sonic Scapes, Migration, Fashions and Scenes, and Other Cinemas—that should provide ample room for reflection in a new capital still redefining itself.

— Gregory Williams