BERLIN.- In her work, Stephanie Comilang engages themes of labour, technology and postcolonial entanglement in the context of global mobility. Combining documen- tary footage, fictional elements and personal nar- ratives, she describes her films as “science fiction documentaries”.

In “Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso” (Come to Me, Paradise) (2017, 26 min.), the urban space of Hong Kong is imagined from the perspective of Fili- pina migrant women. The film is narrated by Paraiso, a spirit embodied by a drone, who speaks of dis- placement, isolation and the search for meaning. On Sundays, thousands of women gather in the financial district, asserting a temporary space of care, com- munity and self-determination beyond the house- holds in which they work and live. This collective presence allows Paraiso to fulfil its task: transmitting the women’s images, voices and messages across distance. 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 min.) is a visual exploration of global mobility. The work traces historical shipping routes that date back to the col- onisation 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. Their biographies are interwoven with the voices of the his- torian Guadalupe Pinzón Ríos and the lepidopterist Jade Aster T. Badon. The monarch butterfly functions as a connecting motif, its long migration becoming a metaphor for transformation and resilience across generations. Interlacing personal narratives with poetic imagery, the work reflects on diaspora, collec- tive memory and belonging.

Stephanie Comilang (born 1980, Toronto) is a Filipino- Canadian artist based in Berlin. She studied at the Ontario College of Art & Design. Recent solo exhibi- tions include presentations at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

Since 2011 the IBB Video Space has been screening artists who work with time-based media. The pro- gramme features not only established names in con- temporary 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.