Christina Lehnert appointed as curator of 13th edition

Christina Lehnert, curator at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, has been appointed as curator of the 13th edition of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA). The Biennale runs from September 20–November 30, 2025.

As organiser of GIBCA, Röda Sten Konsthall looks forward to developing the coming biennial together with Christina Lehnert and four other institutions in the city of Gothenburg and the region of West Sweden.

“I am honored and excited to be able to work with the GIBCA team on the upcoming 13th edition of the biennial in various locations and institutions in and beyond Goteborg. As a curator it becomes more and more crucial to foster strong alliances among institutions and to secure the artist’s practice. As a renowned biennial, GIBCA can provide these spaces and networks for discourses that serve the urgent needs of art and the artist’s voice.” – Christina Lehnert A first presentation of the project and Christina Lehnert’s curatorial practice will take place on November 22, 2024, in Gothenburg.

Christina Lehnert has been a curator at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden since 2022. From 2018 to 2022, she served as a curator at Portikus in Frankfurt am Main. Before that, she was the interim director of the Kunstverein Braunschweig and received a curatorial fellowship from the Gebert Foundation for Culture in Switzerland. Lehnert has worked in numerous institutions, including the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, where she continues to serve as a member of the international acquisitions committee.

In recent years, she has curated a series of exhibitions focused on art as a reflection of political moments, often exploring micro-narratives against the backdrop of larger socio-political issues. Her curatorial interests lie in sound and performance, as well as collective practices in the arts. These projects have featured artists such as Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi, Jimmy Robert, William Pope.L, Georgia Sagri, Lydia Ourahmane, Willem de Rooij, Alia Farid, Hajra Waheed, Leo Asemota, and Nástio Mosquito, among others.

As curator of GIBCA 13, Christina Lehnert promises to confront the present head-on. – Kunstkritikk

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The 13th edition of the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art will focus on artists whose practices are defined by acts of solidarity and the creation of alliances through collaboration. By embodying these principles, the selected artists respond to and are shaped by social changes through the openness of their work and their partnerships with one another. The biennial’s concept is based on an understanding that artists play a crucial role in addressing and navigating contemporary challenges.

Artists and art production are increasingly scrutinized when they deviate from the hegemony of Western ideas and forms, or when shared beliefs clash with the political stance of their host country or city, or are even forbidden by law. Such pressures not only stifle artistic expression but also strain the relationship between artists and cultural institutions. By creating space and time for storytelling, collaboration and active listening, the biennial aspires to nurture practices rooted in solidarity, alliances, and shared narratives.

Together with the invited artists, the questions being raised are: How can we withstand the escalating rhetoric of populism? What forms of resistance are truly effective when the stakes are so high? What is true solidarity? And how can we avoid creating hierarchies within our acts of solidarity?

I would like the coming biennial to look two ways, through the lens of artistic practices: recognizing what different forms of political oppression have in common and sharing responsibility through collaborative practices. This shared responsibility transcends geographical and political borders and can be articulated and fought for through models of solidarity and alliance.

Christina Lehnert