Artists’ Street, artwork by Chaw Ei Thein. Photograph by Jana Wiarda.
Written by Zoya Tun und Christian Koch
THE 13th Berlin Biennale has come to end, yet its resonance continues. It is so rare that the crisis in Myanmar takes center stage on an international art platform of this scale. In a world where global attention often goes toward conflicts, which are deemed more geographically or strategically important, Myanmar’s struggle for democracy can be overlooked and sometimes even forgotten. Amid these challenges, however, there is much to learn from the courageous civil resistance and creative responses that have emerged in the aftermath of the 2021 coup. German Solidarity Myanmar, an organisation dedicated to bringing Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle on the global political stage, organised a rare, yet impactful exclusive tour of the Biennale. During this tour, audiences and artists came together to reflect on the tour and the current situation of Myanmar while exploring how art can give voice to grief and hope, and illuminate pathways of resistance and reconstruction.
Exhibition and Highlights
Among the highlights were exceptional works by Myanmar artists, each confronting history, violence, and resilience through a powerful visual language:
- Zoncy (Heavenly) – “Lady Farmers’ Magenta Sky”
In this piece, Zoncy combines tactile sound modules shaped like toy fighter jets with soft materials that evoke agricultural life. The sounds of airstrike explosions, emitted from these toys, add an unsettling auditory dimension to the work (Schindler, 2025). The piece reflects on the transformation of everyday innocence into instruments of fear. While many international observers might perceive Myanmar’s ongoing conflict as symmetrical, with the Burmese military and revolutionary forces seemingly matched in money, manpower, and firepower, Zoncy highlights a crucial, often overlooked reality.
This war is highly asymmetrical because the Burmese military junta owns aerial supremacy, systematically targeting civilians including women, children, schools, hospitals, and even Buddhist temples (ironically, given the military’s narrative of being protectors of Buddhism). Zoncy’s artwork powerfully brings these daily horrors to light, offering an entry point into the lived realities of people in the affected regions.
- Htein Lin – “The Fly”
Seated, bound, and naked under a spotlight, he fixates on a droning fly, amplifying his sense of entrapment (Sila, 2025). The performance, originally conceived during Htein Lin’s imprisonment, remains, as Somrak Sila describes it, “an absurd masterpiece of Myanmar’s art history.”
The work also showcases the profound connection between the artist and his art. Htein Lin himself has said, “ART is my oxygen.” Through it, he resisted imprisonment and loneliness, finding mental freedom in his thoughts and creations despite his physical helplessness in prison.
- Chaw Ei Thein – “Artists’ Street”
Chaw Ei Thein’s large-scale textile installation highlights the long history of Myanmar artists’ resistance against dictatorship (Tancons, 2025).Through fabric and thread, she weaves memory, protest, and imagination into forms of collective remembrance. Together, these works remind us that in times of censorship and trauma, art remains one of the few safe spaces in which to imagine freedom.
Reflections: Common Identity in a Time of Revolution
After the tour, artists and audience gathered for an open discussion about the ongoing challenges of Myanmar’s revolution: especially around the fragile question of common and united identity-building. Participants spoke about how, amid revolution, identity becomes both a point of solidarity and tension: something that must be continuously negotiated.
‘How can a nation divided by ethnicity, class, and trauma find unity without erasing its diversity?’
These exchanges illuminated how consensus-building and nation-building are deeply intertwined, not only politically but also emotionally and culturally.
One participant also said that:
“During the tour, I felt like when I visited the concentration camps in Germany realizing that such things happened on this land, in this country, and seeing how people are working hard to make sure it never happens again.
But what also makes me deeply sad is that while these are things of the past for Germany, in my own country, Myanmar, such atrocities are still happening right now in the present.
Yet, beyond the military’s brutal violence, what I also want to highlight is the courage of the Myanmar people, especially their refusal to give in to injustice, their resilience, and their determination to keep fighting for their beliefs and for the country’s future.
Being able to present this reality at an event like the Berlin Biennale, and being given the opportunity to take part in it, is something I’m truly grateful for.”
Gratitude and Acknowledgments
We extend our deepest gratitude to Zasha Colah, Ma Thida, and Zoncy for their insight and time during the tour. Their contextualization helped us grasp the full depth of the works: the histories behind each gesture, and the courage behind each creation.
Zasha Colah explaining The Fly by Htein Lin. Photograph by Jana Wiarda.
After Berlin: Continuing the Dialogue
In a time when the world often forgets, these artists insist on memory.
“Art cannot stop the violence, but it can stop the forgetting.”
The question of whether art can help inspire a fragmented country toward unity remains unanswered. Yet from The Fly’s haunting stillness, to the sonic chaos of Lady Farmers’ Magenta Sky, and the sewn solidarity of Artists’ Street, Berlin became a temporary home for voices of persistence.
Between coup and canvas, these works remind us that resistance is not only political — it is profoundly human.
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References
- Schindler, A. (2025). Lady Farmers’ Magenta Sky, Zoncy Heavenly. 13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Artists. https://13.berlinbiennale.de/en/artists/zoncy-heavenly
- Sila, S. (2025). The Fly, Htein Lin. 13th Berlin Biennale for Comtemporary Artists. https://13.berlinbiennale.de/en/artists/the-fly
- Tancons, C. (2025). Artists’ Street. Chaw Ei Thein. https://13.berlinbiennale.de/en/artists/chaw-ei-thein
