Video still from Episode 3, artwork by Renzo Martens

One of the highlights of the current Berlin Biennial is the work of a young Dutch artist – Renzo Martens. Titled Episode 3 (2008), Martens’s 90-minute video constitutes a challenging portrait of contemporary media and capitalist exploitative foundation that continues to run a deep division between North and South. Martens takes a candid, often tragically ironic, approach in exposing and criticizing First-World self-righteous image.

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Oranienplatz 17, Berlin – Kreuzberg. All images by Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

Of the circuit of international biennials, Berlin’s event remains one of the most unpredictable and fresh contemporary art forums around. Opening to the general public on June 11th, the Kathrin Rhomberg-curated Berlin Biennal is titled: what is waiting out there.  The exhibition cites its crux in the ambiguity of reality, space, and time: out there. Spreading its reach across six venues–4 in Kreuzberg district, 2 in Mitte)–the Biennial unfolds into an artistic treasure hunt, both in terms of the pieces it presents, and in the unusual environments Rhomberg has selected for the exhibitions. Berlin’s eclectic atmosphere serves as a natural complement to the aesthetics and emotions of the show.

Sprawling across the 2nd floor Oranienplatz 17 gallery is a work by Marcus Geiger, titled Kommune. Image via Welt.de

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