Ivana de Vivanco

What does a snake’s cry sound like?

Villa Merkel is hosting the first solo museum exhibition by the Chilean-Peruvian artist Ivana de Vivanco (born in 1989 in Lisbon; lives and works in Berlin). In her work, she explores the postcolonial legacy in Chile and Peru, religious and cultural practices, mythological themes, indigenous forms of knowledge, sexuality and patriarchal power structures. She combines painting, video and sculpture with theatrical elements to bring together historical research and fiction. The exhibition at Villa Merkel explores the unique landscape of the Atacama Desert, lithium mining and local living conditions. To this end, she uses the figure of the snake as a leitmotif, reinterpreting it through mythological, religious and art-historical traditions and expanding upon it speculatively.

Ivana de Vivanco, o.T. (Ausschnitt), 2025 © Uwe Walter, Courtesy of the artist

Ivana de Vivanco at Berlin Art Week

Following her solo exhibition ‘What Does a Snake’s Cry Sound Like?’ at Villa Merkel, Ivana de Vivanco will also be featured as part of Berlin Art Week 2026. This continues to raise the profile of the Chilean-Peruvian artist, whose multi-layered works explore questions of colonial continuities, the exploitation of resources and our relationship with nature.

8 March - 7 June 2026

Opening: Saturday, 7 March, 5 pm

Anti Heroes

Jakob Collection x Grischa Hyazinth Kaczmarek

Even as a teenager, art collector Lukas Jakob (*1998 in Freiburg im Breisgau, lives and works there) found identification and inspiration for his own world view in the visual arts. In the exhibition, works from his collection relate this personal approach to art to the motif of the antihero. The exhibition thus takes a look at collecting from the perspective of Generation Z.

The presentation of the Bahnwärter scholarship holder Grischa Kaczmarek follows on the same floor in two rooms. He is also connected to the Jakob Collection through his exploration of post-heroic masculinity, queer identity and popular culture.

The exhibition booklet is available for download here.

Artists:

Joschua Yesni Arnaut, Fabio Baroli, Miriam Cahn, Boris De Beijer, Neckar Doll, Natacha Donzé, Marina Faust, Evgenij Gottfried, Jasmine Gregory, Katharina Grosse, Constantin Hartenstein, Roni Horn, Rindon Johnson, Aneta Kajzer, Julian-Jakob Kneer, Schirin Kretschmann, Erica Lambertson, Thomas Liu Le Lann, Annette Merkenthaler, Lucas Muñoz Muñoz, Michael Sailstorfer, Tobias Spichtig, Gabriella Torres-Ferrer, Raphaela Vogel, Jaime Welsh, Karla Zipfel

Co-curator: Lukas Jakob