Azerbaijani Curator Zuleykha Ibad To Present 'Familiar Strangers' Exhibition At Berlin Art Week 2026

A group exhibition titled Familiar Strangers: On the Mutations of the Everyday will open in Berlin on September 8.

The exhibition is curated by Azerbaijani curator Zuleykha Ibad and will take place as part of HOLOBIONT 2026 during the 15th Berlin Art Week, according to a statement from the project's curator.

The exhibition features Polish artists Ewelina Węgiel and Anna Raczyńska, as well as Bulgarian artist Viktor Petrov. All three artists live and work in Germany.

The exhibition explores transformations of everyday life, memory, migration, and the post-socialist experience. The artists reinterpret familiar objects and spaces, transforming them into unusual artistic images and forms.

The title Familiar Strangers refers to a concept introduced by American social psychologist Stanley Milgram: people whom we regularly see but never personally know. The curator extends this idea to everyday objects that are so familiar to us that we stop truly noticing them.

"The works in this exhibition speak about proximity. About living next to someone you never speak to. About objects you use but never really look at. About crossing a border and finding the same kitchen, only in another country," says Zuleykha Ibad.

The exhibition will be held at RWK Studios by 3CA, an approximately 16,000-square-meter art complex in Berlin's Zehlendorf district.

The opening will take place on September 8 from 16:00 to 20:00. The program will also include artist talks, curator-led tours, performances, musical performances, and an Open House.

Familiar Strangers: On the Mutations of the Everyday will be on view through September 13. Admission is free.

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