PSM

Berni Searle on view at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia by Koyo Kouoh! 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 (2011) engages with the role that the Belgian city of Bruges played as a historical epicentre of textile trade and lacemaking in the Middle Ages. Belgium’s history of brutal colonial exploitation in the Congo and the contemporary complexities of a post-colonial relationship with former colonised peoples is explored in this three-channel video. The work is filmed in the opulent Gothic Chamber of Bruges’ Town Hall in Belgium and set to a score based on the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, that rings out incongruously from the belfry. Searle covers herself, Madonna-like, in a golden cloak and then veils herself in black lace. At the time, the wearing of a burqa and niqab in public places was being banned in many European countries, and these debates played into Searle’s continuing interest in the representation and control of the Black female body. Furthermore, the strained co-existence of Catholicism and Islam in contemporary Belgian cities fed into her personal history shaped by these two faiths. The entire eight-minute video is one of ornament and variation on a theme, much like the interior of the opulent hall and of the adhan itself: the picture fading in and out across the three screens, the body veiling and unveiling itself repeatedly, lace dreamily cascading to the floor, hands gesturing through lace. When the black lace is held in hands painted gold, we are reminded of the cruelty of King Leopold II’s Congo Free State where the hands of African subjects, unable or unwilling to deliver the required quantities of rubber, were summarily amputated. @bernisearle @labiennale #BiennaleArte2026 #InMinorKeys #arsenale #KoyoKouoh

We are pleased to finally present Berni Searle’s works in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia by Koyo Kouoh! The exhibition will open to the public on May 9. Please click the link in bio for further information. Images: 1: Sediment, 2023, Pigment ink on tracing paper, paper stack, pallet, glass, coal, rock 2: Interlaced, 2011, Three-channel synchronised HD video projection, colour, sound 3: To pray, To account, To confront, 2011/2026, Two plate colour photogravure on Arches Platine HP 300gm paper, image size: 43,5 x 55 cm @bernisearle @labiennale

Opening tonight! Berni Searle | Light, as a feather Opening: Friday, May 1, 6-9 pm May 1 - June 20, 2026 As part of @galleryweekendberlin , Berni Searle’s (@bernisearle ) solo exhibition ‘Light, as a feather’ will be open to the public from tonight, 6 - 9 pm. The exhibition brings together two bodies of work from the early ‘Colour Me’ series (1999-2001) and a more recently produced series called ‘Sugar girls’ (2025-). Searle’s multidisciplinary practice spans photography, video, performance, and installation, which often centres the human body – both figuratively and conceptually, or through its strategic absence – to explore self- representation, collective identity, and narratives shaped by history, memory, and place. Image: Installation view, Light, as a feather, PSM, 2026 Photo: Jerzy Goliszewski

Window 7 @kadeweofficial @galleryweekendberlin Claudia Mann Headrests, 2019–2022 DISPLAY, PAUSE, REPEAT curated by Sebastian Hoffmann (@tadantadantadan ) 27 April to 9 May © @claudia__mann Courtesy the artist and @psmgallery Photographed by @ludgerpaffrath for KaDeWe

NEW PODCAST EPISODE WITH BERNI SEARLE In episode 15, writer and curator Enuma Okoro speaks with South African artist Berni Searle (b. 1964, Cape Town, South Africa, where she lives and works) about the layered languages of the body, memory, and perception. Working across photography, video, and sculpture, Searle explores how narratives are constructed and sustained through history, identity, and place, often against the backdrop of colonialism, apartheid, and their afterlives. “I don’t think art alone can change the world,” she says, “but it has a role to play.” Using her own body as a point of departure, she develops works that move between presence and absence, visibility and concealment. In her Colour Me (1998-2000) series, she covers her body in spices such as turmeric and paprika, materials that carry traces of trade, migration, heritage, and cultural memory. They also discuss Searle’s contribution to the Venice Biennale, shaped by the vision of the late curator Koyo Kouoh, that continues to resonate beyond her passing, committed to making visible voices and perspectives long considered peripheral. Ahead of that, her work can be experienced firsthand in Berlin: Searle’s exhibition at PSM Gallery opens during Gallery Weekend Berlin on May 1, 2026. 🎧 Available on all major podcast platforms 🔗Link in bio Gallery Weekend Berlin – The Art Podcast Produced by: @artbeatsberlin Hosted by: @enums and @silke_hohmann_ @bernisearle @psmgallery @antonia.ruder @galleryweekendberlin

📍PSM Berni Searle Light, as a feather May 1 – June 20, 2026 Opening: May 1, 6–9 pm The exhibition ‘Light, as a feather’ brings together two series of work from 2001 and 2025 by Berni Searle (b. 1964, Cape Town), in which self-representation and collective identity are explored through the media of sugar, feathers or flour covering her skin, foregrounding the human body as a site where histories of labour, migration, and cultural exchange surface. Searle’s works draw on emotions of displacement, vulnerability, shame and loss, evoking both the lightness and translucency of the substances that contrasts with the heavy sociopolitical legacies they carry. Credits: 1) Berni Searle, Hazel (peek). From the ‘Sugar Girls’ series. 2025. Photo: Berni Searle / Courtesy of the artist and PSM, Berlin 2) Berni Searle, Still. (Print 6). 2001. Photo: Berni Searle / Courtesy of the artist and PSM, Berlin @psmgallery @bernisearle

We are delighted to announce the upcoming exhibition ‘Light, as a feather‘ by @bernisearle at PSM, opening Friday, May 1st. Presented for the occasion of @galleryweekendberlin , the exhibition by Berni Searle (b. 1964, Cape Town), brings together two bodies of work from the early ‘Colour Me’ series (1999-2001) and a more recently produced series called ‘Sugar girls’ (2025-). Searle’s multidisciplinary practice spans photography, video, performance, and installation, which often centres the human body – both figuratively and conceptually, or through its strategic absence – to explore self- representation, collective identity, and narratives shaped by history, memory, and place. The series Sugar Girls (2025–) draws on Cape Town’s history as a port city at the crossroads of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The work focuses on women who, from the 1960s onward, formed relationships with sailors docking in the harbour ranging from transactional exchanges to longer-term attachments, sometimes resulting in children. The exhibition furthermore presents a selection of works from the early ‘Colour me’ series, including Still #4, 6 & 7, which were created at the same time and are related to the production of the video Snow White, first presented at the Venice Biennale in 2001. In this work, flour gradually transforms, covers, and reveals Searle’s body before she gathers and kneads it with water, forming it into a dough. Her actions recall the making of rotis learned from her mother, connecting her to her cultural heritage through food.

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask! We Wear the Mask BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR #paullawrencedunbar #eduardobasualdo #argentinamylove🇦🇷 #ʙᴜᴇɴᴏsᴀɪʀᴇs

Last week to see Eduardo Basualdo’s solo exhibition ‘false bottom’! On view until April 18. ‘The exhibition unfolds across three rooms. The first two spaces display a complementary relationship: similar elements, divergent propositions. Through their control of light and shadows, both works toy with ideas of inherent power dynamics and how these are negotiated – perhaps usurped and manipulated, perhaps taken by force. The installation are constructed as machines; elementary, exposed, almost archaic. Motors turn, metal structures hold, light passes through apertures. The mechanisms are simple and laid bare, dysplaying a stark contrast to the underlying opacity of the scenes. This clarity extends generosity : inviting the viewer to understand its mechanisms, it offers an opening to contemplate their own form of control within its negotiations.’ - Excerpt from exhibition text Click the link in bio for full exhibition walk-through. @eduardotbasualdo Images: Exhibition view, Eduardo Basualdo, false bottom, PSM, 2026 Photo: Ivan Erofeev (@ivaan_erofeev )

ANXIOUS ABOUT THE SITUATION? WHAT DOES SAFETY FEEL/SOUND LIKE? As part of the exhibition series ‘Gegenwärtig. Contemporary Artists Encounter Felix Nussbaum,’ Ariel Reichman (born in Johannesburg in 1979, lives and works in Berlin) takes Felix Nussbaum’s work as a starting point to discuss today’s society and reflect on it in the mirror of the past. His art revolves around the question of whether history can be overcome. What remains of the past in objects, architecture, bodies or minds? Ariel Reichman adds a mediating layer to the exhibition ‘No one should freeze!’ at the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus: in a series of workshops, interested parties can encounter their own feelings on three levels, express their emotions and reflect on them in conversation and exchange. Together with the artist and experts from various disciplines, they explore the question: What can currently convey a feeling of security in the face of powerlessness and fear? WHAT DOES SAFETY FEEL LIKE? In this workshop, dancer Shay Kukui and Ariel Reichman will lead physical exercises that can help you relax. Is it possible to experience a collective moment of inner peace in our museum in relation to our current political and social world? @shaykukui is a contemporary dancer and lecturer who participates in various international productions and festivals. In interdisciplinary projects, she often combines dance with experimental music, light and spatial concepts, creating accessible yet poetic stage experiences. WHAT DOES SAFETY SOUND LIKE? In this workshop, musician Shabnam Parvaresh and Ariel Reichman will work with participants on the question ‘What does safety sound like?’. Together, they will explore the subjective and collective sounds of feeling safe. @shabnamparvaresh is a clarinettist, visual artist and curator from Tehran, Iran. In her musical work, she pursues an exploratory approach that combines elements of Persian music with electronic sounds, improvisation and jazz. @museumsquartier_osnabrueck @psmgallery @shaykukui @shabnamparvaresh @benpalhov Filmed and edited by @benpalhov

On view until April 18, Eduardo Basualdo (@eduardotbasualdo ) walks us through works from his solo exhibition ‘false bottom’. Click the link in bio for full video! Video: Dudu Quintanilha (@_duduquintanilha )

Last weekend to see Nadira Husain (@nadirahusain___ ) at @kunstmuseumstuttgart in the exhibition ‘Prägungen und Entfaltungen’, in dialogue with Rolf Nesch and Ahmed Umar! The works are on view until April 12. Images: Exhibition view, Nadira Husain, Prägungen und Entfaltungen, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, 2025/6 Photo: Frank Kleinbach