Vasyl Cherepanyn Appointed Curator of 2027 Berlin Biennale
59Nov. 6, 2025
Curator and researcherVasyl Cherepanynhas been named curator of the 14thBerlin Biennalefor Contemporary Art, to take place in summer 2027. A cofounder of Kyiv’s Visual Cultural Research Center, which organizes the Kyiv Biennial, Cherepanyn is known for his work centering post-Soviet Eastern Europe. He intends the 2027 Biennale to respond to Berlin’s sociopolitical and cultural landscape.
“Epitomizing the historical period after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Berlin Biennale has the potential for creating a kind of publicness defined not just in artist or academic terms but out of social-political necessity,” said Cherepanyn in a statement. “For me particularly, such an approach is based on experience working in Ukraine. It is especially urgent now, as Russia’s colonial war confronts people throughout Europe with the most pressing questions of our time.”
Cherepanyn was unanimously named to the role by a committee comprising Akiko Miki, director of Naoshima New Museum of Art, Japan; Emma Enderby, director of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Julia Grosse, strategic consulting and conceptual development at Gropius Bau, Berlin; Marina Naprushkina, artist, Berlin; Marta Kuzma, curator and professor at Yale School of Art, New Haven; Nicola Trezzi, curator at Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin; and Pablo José Ramírez, curator at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.
“Vasyl Cherepanyn brings a distinctive perspective to the 14th Berlin Biennale, not only in his geographic background, but also in his curatorial approach, focusing on collective artistic endeavors that are deeply grounded in current social contexts and their urban surroundings,” said Berlin Biennale director Axel Wieder in a statement. “The Berlin Biennale team and I warmly welcome Vasyl Cherepanyn. We are very much looking forward to working together!”
Founded in 1998, the Berlin Biennale takes place every two years at various locations across the city.