Berlin's status as a leading center of contemporary art will be given a boost this week with the opening of a major exhibition by more than 50 artists from around the globe.

The 5th Berlin Biennial is being held at a string of venues across the once divided capital. A special attraction this year is that works will be on display both day and night.

When Things Cast No Shadow is the informal title of the expo, jointly curated by Adam Szymczyk from Poland and Los Angeles-born Elena Filipovic.

In addition to an array of sculptures, paintings and other creations there will also be films, readings and exhibitions of performance art.

Many of the works were specially created for the four main venues of the biennial, which opens on Saturday and runs until June 15.

The outdoor exhibition site of the Skulpturenpark, in an area formerly adjoining the Berlin Wall, presents a community-based project by Katerina Seda, who goes over the fences that separate neighbors in her home village of Lisen in the Czech Republic.

The KW Institute for Contemporary Art, located in the central Mitte district, will show films by Babette Mangolte and Michel Auder as well as a work by Turkey's Ahmet Ogut that comments on state power and its means of control.

The night part of the biennial, entitled My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days, comprises 63 events, ranging from what the organizers describe as "an out-of-body experiment" by neuroscientist Olaf Blanke to a lecture on modernism in the former Yugoslavia.

Special made-to-measure guided tours are available to enable visitors to the biennial to investigate the exhibition from different angles.

Berlin has a vibrant cultural scene, where around 6,000 artists from around the world enjoy the trappings of a capital city with the prices of a provincial town.

Rents and the cost of living are cheaper in Berlin than comparable European cities, making it an attractive place for struggling artists as well as gallery operators.

There are around 400 art galleries in Berlin, many of them branches of companies that have their headquarters outside Germany.

The city also plays host to the prestigious Art Forum, Europe's most important contemporary art trade fair after those in Basle and London.

The biennial is expected to draw around 100,000 visitors during its 10-week run and gallery owners are hoping the display will help push sales.

More than 15,000 art lovers and collectors are expected for Gallery Weekend from May 2-4 when they will have the chance to meet personally with art dealers from the 34 galleries taking part in the event.

There has been a boom in contemporary art, fuelled by the spread of economic prosperity and the emergence of a new rich entrepreneurial class in nations such as Russia and China.

Never before has so much money been pumped into contemporary art, as witnessed by the recent sale of a diamond encrusted platinum skull by the British artist Damien Hirst.

The artwork was bought by an investment group in August 2007 for 100 million dollars -- the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist.

DPA with Expatica