We are pleased to announce that Simon Wachsmuth is participating in the 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art with his new film From Heaven High (2025), presented at the former courthouse on Lehrter Straße.

The 13th Berlin Biennale opens on June 13 and runs through September 14, 2025, under the title passing the fugitive on. With this title, curator Zasha Colah "references art’s ability to define its own laws in the face of lawful violence in unjust systems and to assert itself even under conditions of persecution and militarization—sending messages that can be passed on. passing the fugitive on can thus be understood as a call to action or an instruction piece: visitors are called upon to become fugitive themselves, to spread the content of the works from mouth to mouth, until it can materialize. The exhibition is premised on that unpredictable moment when an act of individual imagination may become collective.“

Simon Wachsmuth, From Heaven High, 2025, video, 4K, color and black & white (video still)

In his new film From Heaven High (2025), Simon Wachsmuth draws on the figure of the “Prussian Archangel” by John Heartfield and Rudolf Schlichter, first presented at the Berlin Dada Salon in 1920. This life-sized puppet of a soldier with a pig’s head wore a bellyband inscribed with Martin Luther’s hymn “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her” (“From Heaven High I Come”), serving as a biting critique of Prussian militarism and the church. Another sign demanded that the audience perform daily drills with full marching gear on the Tempelhofer Feld—a grotesque exaggeration that exposed the cruelty of an inhumane system through its impossible demands on individuals.

Through a scenario between drama and absurdity, Wachsmuth highlights the challenges of engaging with symbolically charged images. Meanings are never fixed—they shift with context. It is precisely this volatility that is also reflected in current discussions about freedom of expression. Who decides what an image means? And who has the authority to impose their interpretation?

Curator Zasha Colah has found an ideal location for this work on Lehrter Straße. The former courthouse in Moabit evokes the ongoing tension between individual and society and raises questions of negotiation and judgment. A courthouse is a performative space—a place where roles are enacted and meaning is contested. This makes it a fitting counterpart to the artwork, which, like art itself, is always in search of a place and must constantly redefine itself.

With his film, Simon Wachsmuth weaves these historical references into contemporary questions of freedom and resistance. From Heaven High invites viewers to reconsider the boundaries between authority, resistance, and individual responsibility.