Come to Me, Paradise & Search for Life I
In the IBB Video Space
February 25–June 1, 2026
Alte Jakobstraße 124-128
Berlin 10969
Germany
Hours: Monday and Wednesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
T +49 30 78902600
bg@berlinischegalerie.de
Join Stephanie Comilang for an artist talk on her current exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie with curator Anne Bitterwolf.
Free admission, registration required.
Please specify if you need childcare or have any other special requirements.
Two video works by artist Stephanie Comilang will be on view in the IBB Video Space at the Berlinische Galerie until 1 June 2026. In her work, the artist engages themes of labour, technology and postcolonial entanglement in the context of global mobility. Combining documentary footage, fictional elements and personal narratives, she describes her films as “science fiction documentaries”.
In Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso (Come to Me, Paradise) (2017, 26 minutes), the urban space of Hong Kong is imagined from the perspective of Filipina migrant women. The film is narrated by Paraiso, a spirit embodied by a drone, who speaks of displacement, isolation and the search for meaning. Bringing together dystopian architecture, digital technologies and intimate gestures, the film offers a layered reflection on migration, public space and connectedness.
Search for Life I (2024, 20 minutes) is a visual exploration of global mobility. The work traces historical shipping routes that date back to the colonization of the Philippines and are now used by the global container trade. At its centre are the lived realities of former Filipino seafarers: the artist Joar Songcuya and the florist Michael John Díaz. The monarch butterfly functions as a connecting motif, its long migration becoming a metaphor for transformation and resilience across generations.
About the artist
Stephanie Comilang (born 1980, Toronto) is a Filipino-Canadian artist based in Berlin. She studied at the Ontario College of Art & Design. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
IBB Video Space
Since 2011 the IBB Video Space has been screening artists who work with time-based media. The programme features not only established names in contemporary video art but also up-and-coming artists rarely seen in museums to date. For these, the Berlinische Galerie seeks to facilitate an institutional début. Each screening brings a new encounter with work that raises questions about the medium and about social or political issues. Importance is attached to including marginalised perspectives and to shedding light on the impact of power structures.
Video works are available online. This project has been facilitated by Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB).
