Haegue Yang Named Chair of KW and Berlin Biennale
159Sept. 24, 2025
Kunst-Werke Berlin, the institution that oversees the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and the Berlin Biennale, has announced South Korean artist Haegue Yang as its new chair. Yang succeeds Katharina Grosse in the role, which the German artist occupied for four years. Known for sculptures and videos centering intertwined themes of climate change and consumerism, Yang since 2017 has taught at the Städelschule in Berlin, dividing her time between the German city and Seoul. She is the 2022 recipient of the Singapore Biennale’s Benesse Prize and the 2018 winner of the Museum Ludwig’s Wolfgang Hahn Prize. In recent years, Yang has enjoyed solo exhibitions at institutions including Kunsthal Rotterdam (2025); Hayward Gallery, London (2024); and Pinacoteca de São Paulo (2023).
“I am very pleased that after four very intensive and extremely instructive years, I can hand over the chairmanship of the board of Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V. to Haegue Yang and that we can thus continue the association’s tradition of placing the chairmanship in the hands of an artist,” said Grosse in a statement. “It is of utmost importance to us on the board that Haegue Yang is a clear and business-wise voice from the perspective of artistic reality that accompanies the institution and knows how to represent it to the outside world.”
Yang takes the reins at Kunst-Werke Berlin in the wake of cuts earlier this year to the city’s culture budget. The €130 million ($154 million) reduction cost KW between 10 and 12 percent of its budget and forced it to eliminate a city-funded staff position, halt portions of its mediation program, and terminate several partnerships. Too, Berlin arts organizations are embroiled in controversy over their treatment of pro-Palestinian artists and artworks.
“KW accompanies artists in crucial phases of their development—they are not just a place, but a driving force in the artistic ecosystem. This role is indispensable and deserves our constant commitment,” said Yang in a statement. “I am very pleased to be able to support Emma Enderby and Axel Wieder as well as Kunst-Werke Berlin e. V. in this responsibility.”