Kyiv Biennial's 'A Bird That Cannot Land' Opens at KW Institute in Berlin
The Berlin segment of the nomadic international initiative, the Kyiv Biennial, titled 'A Bird That Cannot Land,' will be held at KW Institute for Contemporary Art from June 11 to September 13, 2026. This extensive exhibition will occupy the entire venue, featuring a major showcase, live events, and discussions. Focusing on 'Middle-East-Europe,' it explores themes of conflict, colonialism, and imperialism, connecting post-Soviet Eastern Europe with regions in Central and Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean. More than 40 international and intergenerational artists, including Hito Steyerl, Mona Hatoum, Hiwa K, and Lida Abdul, will participate. The live program will engage Berlin's diasporic communities through various performances, while the discursive segment will foster academic discussions on migration, exclusion, and petrocapitalism. This biennial builds on its 2025 events held at multiple venues across Europe, including the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Dovzhenko Centre in Kyiv. Curators include Sofie Krogh Christensen and a diverse team featuring Vasyl Cherepanyn, Emma Enderby, Nav Haq, Sarah Jonas, Serge Klymko, and Magda Lipska.
Key facts
- Exhibition runs June 11–September 13, 2026 at KW Institute, Berlin.
- Title: 'A Bird That Cannot Land'.
- Centers on 'Middle-East-Europe' and histories of dispute, coloniality, imperialism.
- Features over 40 intergenerational and international participants.
- Includes artists Hito Steyerl, Mona Hatoum, Hiwa K, Lida Abdul, and others.
- Live program includes performances, concerts, listening sessions with diasporic communities.
- Discursive program covers migration, exclusion, co-existence, extractivism, petrocapitalism.
- Biennial is nomadic; 2025 iterations occurred in Warsaw, Antwerp, Kyiv, Linz, Dnipro.
Entities
Artists
- Abdullah Miniawy
- Adam Hanieh
- Alona Karavai
- Anna Ehrenstein
- Yara Mekawei
- Anna Zvyagintseva
- Anton Kats
- Assaf Gruber
- Aykan Safoğlu
- Dana Kavelina
- Eda Aslan
- Farahnaz Sharifi
- Flaka Haliti
- Geta Brătescu
- Gulnur Mukazhanova
- Heinali
- Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko
- Hito Steyerl
- Hiwa K
- Ihor Tsymbrovsky
- Ivan Krastev
- Joyce Joumaa
- Julia Cimafiejeva
- Katarina Gryvul
- Lesia Vasylchenko
- Lida Abdul
- Lucia Kagramanyan
- Madina Tlostanova
- Majd Abdel Hamid
- Mona Hatoum
- Nazanin Noori
- Neda Saeedi
- Nikima Jagudajev
- Nour Sokhon
- Oleksiy Radynski
- Philipp Goll
- Samia Halaby
- Saodat Ismailova
- Sattar Stas Shärifullá
- Ziliä Qansurá
- Stefaniia Bodnia
- Jack Dove
- Tjan Zaotschnaja
- Tolia Astakhishvili
- Ulrike Herrmann
- Wafaa Saied
- Sofie Krogh Christensen
- Linda Franken
- Radia Soukni
- Lorena Juan
- Nikolas Brummer
- Saba Bagheri
- Vasyl Cherepanyn
- Triin Metsla
- Emma Enderby
- Nav Haq
- Sarah Jonas
- Serge Klymko
- Magda Lipska
- Hannah Arendt
- Frank Sperling
Institutions
- KW Institute for Contemporary Art
- Kyiv Biennial
- Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC)
- M HKA—Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp
- Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
- Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
- Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture
- Dovzhenko Centre
- Biennial Foundation
- Visual Culture Research Center
- M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art
- Lentos Kunstmuseum
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- Auguststraße 69, Berlin
- Kyiv
- Warsaw
- Poland
- Antwerp
- Belgium
- Linz
- Austria
- Dnipro
- Ukraine