28 JUN until 30 AUG 2025
Opening – 28 JUN 2025, 6-8 pm

Galerie Neu is pleased to show Atiéna R. Kilfa’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.

En Suite refers to a sequence of rooms or scenes – to a connection that is not coercively linear although created through a successive rhythm, by proximity, function and repetition. The works in the exhibition stand alone, but in their sequence and in relation to the medium of cinema create a dynamic that functions similarly as a film’s montage.

‘Tabloid’ was originally trademarked by a pharmaceutical company. A combination of the words ‘tablet’ and ‘alkaloid’, it referred to new, more compact forms of medicine. The substance fueling modern society, here photographed in its most popular form of consumption: caffeine. The newly coined term was later on transferred to describe a smaller, handier and more concise newspaper format. At the risk of warping the truth, by creating a visual emphasis that would be more attention grabbing, tabloids were designed to increase sales and shape public opinion. This shift in the flow of information was reflected in film through the visual trope of a spinning newspaper. A transitional device appearing at the end of a scene, its effect is illustrative of a social turbulence so great, it causes a rupture in the narration.

The manipulation of a sense of time is a recurring tool throughout the exhibition. In Rotor Vector, the video separated by a wall invites to look behind the scene, into the more commonly hidden space of an office. Shot digitally in ‘black and white’ and projected in a 4:3 ratio, its aesthetic is reminiscent of film noir, itself rooted in German expressionist cinema. Filmed at 120 frames per seconds, the scene is animated by the silent flickering, fizzing and shimmering of props, unraveling positioning and perspective.

En Suite also means: What follows? What continues to have an effect? How is it passed on?

Atiéna R. Kilfa’s (*1990, France) practice homes in on cinematic archetypes and the intricate ways in which images are constructed in film. Through video, photography, sculpture and installation, her work reflects on various traditions and technical mechanisms of production and postproduction, inviting the viewer to consider how images bear witness to time and to the ideologies whose histories we continue to inhabit.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Wonder Lust, LOK Remise – Kunstmuseum St.Gallen (2025), Special Effect, Den Frie, Copenhagen (2024), Primitive Tales, Cabinet Gallery, London (2023), The Unhomely, Camden Art Centre, London (2023), The Unhomely, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2022), Nevermind (Screentest I), Cell Project Space, London (2020).