Gernot Wieland
13th Berlin Biennale, Germany
14 June – 14 September 2025
The 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art is an international exhibition of more than 60 artistic positions and more than 170 works across four venues. The encounter with foxes within the inner city of Berlin is a starting point for the exhibition as an investigation of fugitivity. It examines the ability of works of art to set their own laws in the face of lawful violence in unjust systems, and to allow thinking to enfold even under conditions of persecution, militarization, and ecocide. The title, passing the fugitive on, may be read as a missive or instruction piece to the received. Some fugitive content is passed, and the audience is the receiver of cultural evidence. Now they must themselves turn fugitive, run with it, pass it on, or keep it in hiding until it is transmissible, sayable.
In his new film, Gernot Wieland explores the urgent—but often unsuccessful—attempt to heal the damage left by Western art history, which has long been shaped by colonialism and male dominance. This legacy is just one example of how deep-rooted power structures keep shaping and reinforcing inequality. Wieland uses the method of "family constellation" therapy, with ceramic figures representing old European master paintings, family roles, psychological concepts—and a fox. This setup tries to uncover how cultural power works. Western art history itself is built on loss: it stands on stolen land, silenced voices, and exclusion. The film’s narration flows like a story—sometimes drifting into imagined memories, then snapping back to harsh historical truths. Wieland draws on his childhood in postwar Austria in the 1970s and ’80s, a time he describes as filled with repression. The film balances humor and seriousness in a way that feels almost childlike—honest and unfiltered. Even when the film feels light, you never forget the heavy themes it’s dealing with—grief, trauma, and the long shadow of violence. It’s all there, pulsing just beneath the surface.
Gernot Wieland (born 1968) exhibited works in museums such as KINDL – Centre, Berlin; Künstlerhaus Bremen; Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen; Salzburger Kunstverein, and at festivals such as International Short Film Festival Oberhausen; Videonale; IndieLisboa; European Media Art Festival; Kasseler Dokfest; International Short Film Festival, Hamburg; IFFR – Rotterdam; and TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival. Recent awards include Aus-blicke Award at blicke Filmfestival; Main Award of the German Competition at the 69th International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen; and the German Short Film Award.
This is his second collaboration with Phileas, following his participation at the 3rd BIENALSUR, Buenos Aires, in 2021.
