Vasyl Cherepanyn appointed curator of the 14th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Vasyl Cherepanyn, curator of the 14th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art; image: Diana Pfammatter

Summer 2027
Berlin, Germany
Curator: Vasyl Cherepanyn
www.berlinbiennale.de

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art announced the appointment of Vasyl Cherepanyn as curator of its 14th edition, taking place in summer 2027 (exact dates to be announced).

A curator and researcher working between art, political philosophy, and grassroots movements, Vasyl Cherepanyn is co-founder and head of the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC), a platform that promotes collaboration among academic, artistic, and activist communities. His practice has long focused on the post-Soviet condition of Eastern Europe, approaching art as both a civic and transformative space deeply tied to its publics and social contexts.

“Thinking the Berlin Biennale into the future, and curating it in the present, means fully committing oneself to the future of art and its mediation in the city, and to learn from its social contextualization in the process. Being an epitome of the historical period after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Berlin Biennale contains the potentiality of creating a kind of publicness defined not just artistically or academically but out of social-political necessity. In my case, such an approach is particularly based on experience working in Ukraine. It is especially required now, as Russia’s colonial war confronts us with the most pressing questions of our time throughout Europe.” Vasyl Cherepanyn

Cherepanyn was unanimously selected by an international selection committee of seven contemporary art experts:

Akiko Miki (Director, Naoshima New Museum of Art / International Artistic Director, Benesse Art Site Naoshima);
Emma Enderby (Director, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin);
Julia Grosse (Strategic Consulting and Conceptual Development, Gropius Bau / Co-Founder, Contemporary And (C&) / Lecturer, University of the Arts Berlin);
Marina Naprushkina (Artist, Berlin);
Marta Kuzma (Curator / Professor of Art, Yale School of Art, Yale University, New Haven);
Nicola Trezzi (Curator, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin);
and Pablo José Ramírez (Curator, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles).

“I would like to thank the members of the selection committee for their expertise and professional work throughout the selection process,” said Axel Wieder, Director of the Berlin Biennale. “Vasyl Cherepanyn brings a distinctive perspective to the 14th Berlin Biennale, not only from his geographical background, but also in his curatorial approach, focusing on collective artistic endeavors that are deeply grounded in current social contexts and their urban surroundings. The Berlin Biennale team and I warmly welcome him. We are very much looking forward to working together!”

Born in 1980 in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, and currently based in Berlin, Cherepanyn holds a PhD in philosophy and has lectured at several universities, including the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Institute for Advanced Studies of the Political Critique in Warsaw, University of Helsinki, European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), and Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald.

He co-founded the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC) in 2008, which organizes the Kyiv Biennial and is a founding member of the East Europe Biennial Alliance (EEBA). He is part of the curatorial team for the Kyiv Biennial 2025, which will be presented across multiple institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, M HKA Antwerp, Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture, Dovzhenko Centre in Kyiv, and Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz.

Cherepanyn’s previous curatorial projects include Kyiv Perennial (Between Bridges, nGbK, and Prater Galerie, Berlin, 2024); Armed Democracy (Biennale Warszawa, 2022); Hybrid Peace (Stroom Den Haag, 2019); The European International (Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, 2018); and Global Protest (Open University of Maidan, 2013). His editorial work spans Society of the Frontline: A Guidebook of Kyiv Perennial (nGbK, 2025), ’68 NOW (Archive Books, 2019), and Guidebook of the Kyiv International (Medusa Books, 2018). He also co-edited the Ukrainian edition of Political Critique from 2011 to 2014.

About the Berlin Biennale

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art takes place every two years at different locations in Berlin. Since its first edition in 1998, the Berlin Biennale has been committed to create experimental exhibition and event programs, together with renowned curators, presenting bold artistic and political positions in dialogue with Berlin’s urban space. The Berlin Biennale explores international artistic developments of the present day that make the unseen and unfamiliar tangible. Each edition brings together artists, thinkers, and interested audiences from different areas of society, opening up a dialogue with the inhabitants of the city.

The Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art is organized by KUNST-WERKE BERLIN e. V. The Berlin Biennale is funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). The Kulturstiftung des Bundes is funded by the Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).

For more information on the upcoming Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art keep following the announcements on their website as well as social media outlets.