Atiéna R. Kilfa: Living as Fiction With "The Unhomely", KW Berlin presents the first institutional solo exhibition of the Frankfurt-based artist, which comprises a new video work alongside architectural mock-ups. Text by June Drevet Link in bio 🧬 What does one’s own home mean in the presence of logics such as subject and object, abstraction and figuration, reality, and illusion – in other words, the seemingly opaque (spatial) separation of inside and outside? [...] Walking up the spiral staircase of the old building of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, you reach a free-standing wooden platform on the fourth floor, which has been assembled from the floorboards of various old buildings in Berlin. It is a stage for the film "The Landlords" by the artist Atiéna R. Kilfa, which shows a fragment of the encounter between two persons in a Parisian stairwell, although the reason, time or intention is unclear. The pale yet intriguingly contrasting details remind of photographs in an old photo album. The displayed detail is spottily sharp. At times, the focal spectrum widens and narrows again; the camera sways between the two persons like a third one and comes back the same way without turning around. This same sequence repeats itself in a 20-minute loop, as we approach the silent encounter between a seated and a standing person through the embodied camera. But in its constant wavering, it is impossible to determine the moment the camera stands still between the upward and downward movement. The slow hovering of the camera gives just enough time to take a closer look at the figurines: Who are they? [...] Photo captions 1. / 4. / 5. Atiéna R. Kilfa: "The Landlords", 2022, video still. Courtesy the artist 2. / 3. / 6. Atiéna R. Kilfa: "The Landlords", installation view, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2022; Photo by Frank Sperling @atiena_r_kilfa @junedrevet @kwinstitutefcontemporaryart @camdenartcentre @ad.a.g @skchris_ @neuealtebruecke #pwmag #pwmaganzine #atienarkilfa #kwinstituteforcontemporaryart