German Pavilion: 54th Venice Biennale, 2011

Contributions by Helke Bayrle, Klaus Biesenbach, John Bock, Frank Castorf, Thomas Demand, Chris Dercon, Diedrich Diederichsen, Susanne Gaensheimer, Boris Groys, Carl Hegemann, Irm Hermann, Johannes Hoff, Andy Hope 1930, Elfriede Jelinek, Schorsch Kamerun, Alexander Kluge, Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Aino Laberenz, Torsten Lemmer, Matthias Lilienthal, Jonathan Meese, Michaela Melián/Thomas Meinecke, Klaus Mertes, Eva Meyer-Hermann, Werner Nekes, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Peter Raue, Charlotte Roche, Stephanie Rosenthal, Karlheinz Schmid, Elisabeth Schweeger, Georg Seeßlen, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Sandra Umathum, Antje Vollmer

By way of actions, films, installations, operas, theater pieces, television broadcasting, and teaching, Christoph Schliegensief produced work that boldly addressed contemporary culture and politics, particularly within Germany. Schlingensief’s death in the summer of 2010, which occurred as he was planning the German Pavilion for the 54th Venice Biennale, shifted the course of the 2011 program. Instead of presenting elements of Schlingensief’s project, Festspielhaus Afrika, which initiated the first “opera village,” curator Susanne Gaensheimer has developed a program and accompanying catalogue that pays tribute to one of Germany’s most radical, experimental, and progressive voices.

With contributions from over thirty internationally renowned curators, artists, critics, theorists, directors, and practitioners.