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Opening to the public on May 9, 2026, the German Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia is titled Ruin. Curated by Kathleen Reinhardt, the pavilion will present works by Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu. The German contribution to the Biennale Arte 2026 is commissioned by ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for International Relations). In Ruin, the German Pavilion becomes a space in which physical and social structures, German ideologies, and lived biographies tangibly overlap, bringing architecture, history, and psychology into productive tension. The exhibition’s title riffs on the word’s multiple associations. While the English word ‘ruin’ refers to architectural and physical remnants, the German term ‘Ruin’ signifies a state of collapse—economic, social, or moral. In newly produced works, Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu draw on their research into the GDR and the transition period following reunification of East and West Germany in 1990, demonstrating how historical ruptures and gaps in political, social, and architectural structures continue to resonate—and are perhaps more evident than ever in a globalized present. Tieu and Naumann reflect on both German history and the German Pavilion’s fascist architecture by artistically re-appropriating the space. Using a formal vocabulary that oscillates between minimalist clarity and maximalist opulence, both artists employ the building as an ambivalent mirror of social dynamics from the recent past to the present. For more information, please visit the German Pavilion website.
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