Meet our new Board Member: Axel Wieder

Axel Wieder

Director, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

We are honored to welcome Axel Wieder and three other esteemed professionals as the newest members of the International Biennial Association (IBA) board. Elected during our recent 11th General Assembly in Lyon, each of these individuals showed a profound commitment to IBA and an interest in expanding our activities and presence. Axel, appointed recently as Director of the Berlin Biennale, has led remarkable art institutions and initiatives throughout his career. Together with our other board members we are sure he will play a pivotal role in expanding IBA’s mission to support biennials as spaces of artistic freedom, inclusivity, and international collaboration.

Commenting on his recent election he stated:

Axel Wieder studied art history and cultural studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of Cologne. He has been director of Bergen Kunsthall since 2018, where he produced a widely acclaimed, interdisciplinary program with an international focus and local roots together with his team, which encompassed exhibitions, live projects, and a broad event and outreach program. Previously, Wieder was the director of Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation in Stockholm (2014-2018) as well as director of Programs at Arnolfini in Bristol (2012-2014). He was responsible for the program of Ludlow 38 – Goethe Institute in New York from 2010 to 2011 after being responsible as artistic director of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart from 2007 to 2010. In 1999, he founded Pro qm, a bookshop and discourse platform, together with Katja Reichard and Jesko Fezer in Berlin. Wieder has held teaching appointments at various universities and art academies, including Bauhaus Universität Weimar and Zurich University of the Arts; he publishes in magazines and anthologies. On April 22, 2024, he was appointed as director of the Berlin Biennale, where he will succeed Gabriele Horn from August 1, 2024 on.