Kiri Dalena / Alicja Rogalska: Terms and Conditions

Kiri Dalena
December 7, 2024–February 2, 2025
Opening on December 6, 2024, 7pm
Curator: Michaela Richter

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.) presents the first European survey exhibition of artist, filmmaker, and activist Kiri Dalena. Known for her documentary approach, Dalena establishes a close connection to her subjects; for over 20 years, she has been a committed advocate for human rights in her native Philippines. Her work confronts issues of state persecution, political injustice, and social inequality in her home country, underscoring the importance of civil and artistic protest. Examining past and present regimes and systematic discrimination of marginalized communities, she creates installations, photographs, and video works that portray both suffering and resistance.

The exhibition at n.b.k. brings together numerous works by Dalena, which, among other aspects, offer visitors insight into the political history of the Philippines. The artist documents specific challenges her country has endured and continues to face, including tyranny, mismanagement, and climate crises. In doing so, she amplifies the voices of those who stand against injustice through acts of protest, solidarity, and public resistance. By focusing on the unity of those affected and drawing on musical and indigenous traditions, Dalena underscores methods of collective preservation and healing.

Finissage: Sunday, February 2, 2025, 8pm
Foundling
Finissage concert with Erin Lang (vocals, electric bass, harp), David Georgos (synthesizer, programming), Samuel Hall (percussion, crystallophone), Peter Hanson (saxophone, flute). Free admission
 

n.b.k. Showroom
Alicja Rogalska. Terms and Conditions
December 7, 2024–February 2, 2025
Opening on December 6, 2024, 7pm
Curator: Krisztina Hunya

Alicja Rogalska designs collective situations—including workshops, performances, dinner parties, and live action role-playing games (LARP)—where both the process and outcome are shaped through group negotiation. The artist invites people from specific communities to engage in dialogue, make their voices heard, and develop emancipatory approaches for the future. These gatherings often translate into video works but may also result in songs, images, or objects that reflect the collective process. In her practice, Rogalska employs strategies like experimental learning, feminist knowledge production, methods of care, and non-hierarchical frameworks, continually renegotiating the potential of art as a tool for community building.

Rogalska frequently collaborates with individuals from economically or politically precarious backgrounds, such as migrant agricultural workers on the island of Jersey, street singers in Jakarta, and flower farmers in the Czech Republic. She also involves activists, lawyers, and researchers in her projects to examine social inequalities related to labor, migration, gender, climate, and rural spaces. For her exhibition at n.b.k., the artist engaged in dialogue with Berlin-based bicycle couriers. In her latest works, Rogalska envisions utopian scenarios, opening up speculative spaces to imagine futures free from isolation and exploitation.

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein is supported by the Kriket Foundation.

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein n.b.k. gGmbH is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.