Exile, Destruction, and Search: Kyiv Biennial and “A Bird That Cannot Land” at KW Berlin

Not merely a traditional exhibition consisting of paintings hung on walls, but a collective space of thought expanding into the city, space, and minds throughout the summer… The 2026 edition of the Kyiv Biennial, under the title “A Bird That Cannot Land”, covers all floors and the courtyard of Berlin’s long-standing art venue, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art. Bringing together works by more than 40 international artists, live performances, and discussion panels, this special program questions how art can transform into a space of resistance, sanctuary, and memory in the shadow of conflict and war.

Why Berlin, Why Now? Map of a Biennial in Exile

Serving as the voice of artists displaced and forced to live in exile due to the ongoing destructive war in Ukraine, the Kyiv Biennial dismantles its classic centralized structure and adopts a network-based, flexible exhibition model. This wave of exhibitions, which spread across Amsterdam, Warsaw, Linz, and Kyiv in 2025, brings its main body in the summer of 2026 to the KW Institute, one of Germany’s and Europe’s most ambitious contemporary art institutions.

Selecting Berlin as the main hub is no coincidence. In recent years, the city has become a vital center of production, solidarity, and life for independent artists forced into exile from Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The KW management constructs this biennial not merely as a showcase making visible the personal and collective traumas of Ukrainian artists, but also as an interdisciplinary public platform questioning how conflict geographies thoroughly transform artistic practice.

“Middle-East-Europe”: A Geographic and Political Framework Transcending Borders

The concept of “Middle-East-Europe”, forming the conceptual backbone of the biennial, offers a game-changing geographic reading. This definition draws a porous, open-to-dialogue, and historically permeable line connecting Central and Eastern Europe with Central and Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean basin.

Across this broad line, the exhibition examines colonial history, imperialist interventions, the destruction left by wars, and the memory of exile. Historical disruptions accumulating on bodies and urban spaces are addressed through a multi-layered artistic language ranging from video installations to sound arrangements, archival research to sculpture.

The Metaphorical Bird of Exile and Over 40 Voices

The image of “A Bird That Cannot Land,” which inspired the title of the exhibition, carries both a concrete and deeply symbolic meaning. Just as it points to airspaces closed due to war and homeland territories that have become impossible to reach, it also symbolizes that uncanny state of limbo where an exiled individual can neither fully leave nor fully stay.

Featuring over 40 artists, the selection establishes an intergenerational and international dialogue. Works by exiled Ukrainian artists come side-by-side with other Berlin-based and global independent voices, transforming the exhibition from a static display of objects into a living, debating, and questioning public space.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kyiv Biennial’s “A Bird That Cannot Land”

Where and on what dates can the exhibition be visited?

The exhibition continues throughout the summer at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art building in Berlin Mitte (Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin).

What does the title “A Bird That Cannot Land” symbolize?

The title represents closed airspaces and geographies rendered inaccessible in war zones, as much as it symbolizes the experience of displaced exiled artists and refugees being unable to hold on and remaining in limbo.

What does the conceptual framework of “Middle-East-Europe” mean?

It is a conceptual map connecting Central and Eastern Europe with the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the Mediterranean through historical, political, and cultural ties. This line is used to examine shared legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and conflict.

If you are curious about how war, exile, and geographic disruptions shape art, KW in Berlin-Mitte is one of this summer’s most jarring stops. This event is not merely a static exhibition; it is a broad process encompassing panels, performances, and live discussions. If you are in Berlin, do not complete your summer route without stopping by this building on Auguststraße and checking the live program calendar!