Victoria Square Is Not a Metaphor
Solo show
Neue Galerie
Rennweg 1, 6020
Innsbruck, Austria
More info here
March 17, 2026
Three Films by Nicolas Cilins
Screening and Q&A
Bartibae
St. Bartlmä 3, 6020
Innsbruck, Austria
October 15, 2025—November 28, 2025
Along Lines and Traces
Group show
4th Larnaca Biennale
Larnaca, Cyprus
September 21, 2025
Femstival @ Marseille
Screening
Videodrome 2
49 Cours Julien, 13006
Marseille, France
May 17, 2025—August 28, 2025
wild thinX — non-conformist strategies in architecture, design and art
Group show
Fünfzigzwanzig
Residenzplatz 10, 5020
Salzburg, Austria
More info here
June 13, 2025—June 20, 2025
The Most Beautiful Swiss Books
Group show
Helmhaus Zürich
Limmatquai 31, 8001
Zürich, Switzerland
May 8, 2025—May 10, 2025
Le Femstival
Screening
La Flèche d’Or
102 bis rue de Bagnolet, 75020
Paris, France
More info here
November 14, 2024—April 13, 2025
Faits divers : une hypothèse en 26 lettres, 5 équations et aucune réponse
MACVAL, Contemporary Art Museum of Val-de-Marne
Place de la Libération
94407 Vitry-sur-Seine
Paris, France
More info here
December 6, 2024—February 16, 2025
Pathways, Encounters, Thresholds: Victoria Square
Solo show
Curated by Angelo Plessas
P.E.T. Projects
Kerkyras 87, 11363
Athens, Greece
December 4, 2024—February 3, 2025
Healing Routine
Solo show
Curated by Elisa Rusca
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum
Avenue de la Paix 17, 1202
Geneva, Switzerland
December 19, 2024
Where Time Becomes a Loop: Silent Night
Curated by Panos Fourtoulakis
3 137 @ Vatsaxi Street
Αthens, Greece
July 4—7, 2024
Stills From Seven Works
Screening and book launch
Q&A with Nicolas Cilins on July 4, 7 pm
Ongoing screenings until July 7
Wiener Art Foundation
Schadekgasse 8, 1060
Vienna, Austria
March 15—31, 2024
La Box, une première histoire (1990-2024)
Group show
Screening and Q&A Three Films by Nicolas Cilins, March 14, 7.30pm
La Box
Bourges, France
More info here
February 21—March 10, 2024
Research trip
Mumbaï, India
October 1—December 3, 2023
Une sensation contemporaine
Group show
Centre d’art de la Villa Bernasconi
Route du Grand-Lancy 8,
1212 Lancy
Geneva, Switzerland
More info here
October 24—29, 2023
DokumentART, European Film Festival
Video installation, screening and Q&A
Neubrandenburg, Germany
Link to catalogue
Residency @ Victoria Square
Αthens, Greece
August 18—20, 2023
Chennai International Queer Film Festival (CIQFF)
Official Selection
Goethe-Institut, 4, 5. Street, Rutland Gate
Chennai, India
More info here
August 4—6, 2023
The 13th Bangalore Queer Film Festival (BQFF)
Official Selection
Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Indiranagar
Bangalore, India
June 7—11, 2023
14th KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
Non-Competition Section
Liberty Cinema, 41-42, New Marine Lines
Mumbai, India
March 21, 2023
PiaPia x La Branlée
Screening
LeDoc
26 rue du docteur Potain
Paris, France
November 8, 2022—April 23, 2023
Équilibres Précaires
Group show with Denise Bertschi, Olafur Eliasson and Nina Haab
International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Avenue de la Paix 17, 1202
Geneva, Switzerland
January 2023—April 2023
Residency @ imagespassages & weavers associations
Forges de Cran-Gevrier
Annecy, France
January 18—January 25, 2023
Solothurner Filmtage
Panorama section
January 20, Canva Club, 12pm
January 24, Canva Club, 5.45pm
Luzernstrasse 7, 4500
Solothurn, Switzerland
February 9—February 10, 2023
Budapest Independent Film Festival
Official Selection 2023
nominated for Best Documentary Short
Kino Cafe Mozi Cinema
Budapest, Hungary
December 21, 2022—February 21, 2023
Acquisitions 2021
Group show
Fonds municipal d’art contemporain
Chemin du 23-Août 5, 1205
Geneva, Switzerland
September 27—October 12, 2022
Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF)
International Competition
September 27, Cinemateca Eforie, 6.30pm
Strada Eforie 2, 030167
Bucharest, Romania
October 10—October 23, 2022
Image de Ville Festival
Screening and Q&A
October 12, Cinéma Le Miroir, 1.30pm
2 rue de la Charité 13002
Marseille, France
October 12—October 17, 2022
Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux
Compétition contrebande
October 13, 8.30pm with Q&A
October 14, 6pm
UGC Ciné Cité
13-15 Rue Georges Bonnac, 33000
Bordeaux, France
November 8—November 13, 2022
42. Duisburger Filmwoche
Screening: Diva
November 11, 11pm with Q&A
Kino Filmforum
Dellplatz 16, 47051
Duisburg, Germany
November 19—29, 2022
Chéries-Chéris, 28e Festival LGBTQI &+++ de Paris
Screenings : Diva
MK2 Beaubourg
Paris, France
August 14—20, 2022
Pune International Queer Film Festival
International selection: Diva
Pune, India
June 24—July 24, 2022
Make Room in your mouth
Group Show
Wiener Art Foundation
Vienna, Austria
June 8—July 31, 2022
Mix Mexico 2022
Program Mundo de Transiciones, Cineteca Nacional
Mexico City, Mexico
June 16—June 19, 2022
Milano Mix Festival
Official Short Film Competition: Diva
Milano, Italia
June 8—18, 2022
Côté Court Festival / Pantin
Panorama section: Diva
Paris, France
March 23, 2022
Talk to me!
Lecture: Justin Bartley, Karen Cooper and Regina Houedanou on their remote working conditions
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Bern University of the Arts HKB
February 10—20, 2022
72nd Berlin International Film Festival
Forum Expanded: Diva
Wednesday 16.02, 20.00, Kino Arsenal 1, premiere with Q&A
Wednesday 16.02, 21.30, Cubix 9, Six Queer Short Films of the 72nd Berlinale
Thrusday 17.02, 14.00, Werstattkino@silentgreen
Saturday 19.02, 14.00, Kino Arsenal 1
Sunday 20.02, 17.30, International, Six Queer Short Films of the 72nd Berlinale
Berlin, Germany
September 20—26, 2021
Swiss Art Awards 2021
Art Basel / Halle 3
Basel, Switzerland
April 2021—June 2021
Residency: Theatrum Festival 2021
Golden Mask, Vladimir Potanin Foundation, and Pro Helvetia
Moscow, Russia
June 6—June 9, 2021
The Moscow Planetarium Museum
Performance: Conquest
Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Ulitsa 5 стр.1
Moscow, Russia
January—June 2021
Residency @ Kanton Genf Berlin’s studio
Wiesenstrasse 29 e.G
Berlin, Germany
studio [at] nicolas-cilins [dot] com
2023—2026
At its core are the words of these young men, gathered over three years. Their testimonies are spoken collectively—in Arabic, Farsi, Greek, and French—by witnesses and participants involved in the research.
Paired with intentionally fragmented imagery of subway entrances, public benches, and aerial views of the square, the work forms a polyphony of survival and resilience that confronts the EU’s intertwined regimes of economic austerity and refugee exclusion.
Au cœur de l’installation se trouvent les propos des celleux que Cilins a documentés pendant trois ans. Ces témoignages sont prononcés en arabe, farsi, grec et français par des témoins et participantexs à la recherche.
Associés à des images intentionnellement fragmentées (bouches de métro, bancs publics et vues aériennes), ils composent une polyphonie de survie et de résistance, face à la double politique européenne d’austérité économique et de non‑accueil des réfugiés.
Exhibition page — Neue Galerie, Tyrolean Artist’s Association, Austria
Exhibition booklet — text by Bettina Siegele
Original exhibition booklet — text by Angelo Plessas
Article — Eleni Sabani for Kathimeriní (GR/EN)
Feature — Les Nouveaux Riches (DE)
Feature — saliva.live (EN)
Witnesses Ahmad Alali, Nicolas Cilins, Alexandre Collet, Bruno D’Hubert, Sofia Kouloukouri, Urich Tchamba Nya
Sound Mixing Philippe Ciompi
Additional voices Konstantinos Hillas, Atefeh Yarmohammadi
With the complicity of Eva, Michalis, Wahid, Vassilis, Dimitris, Konstantina, Milad
Interviews and translations Ahmad Alali, Maya (Arabic), Sofia Kouloukouri, Antigoni Papantoni (Greek), Narges (Farsi)
Acknowledgments Dominique Auvray, Yan Duyvendak, Charlotte Terrapon, Arnold Pasquier, Lou Perret, Angelo Plessas, Eleni Riga, Mike Junior Sinsoillier
Exhibitions Credits Bruno D’Hubert, Sophie Goltz, Paul Irmann, Angelo Plessas, Cornelia Reinisch-Hofmann, Bettina Siegele, Milena Thurner, Marille. Büro für Grafik und Text
Publication Credits Rosa Molina, Elisabeth Raffi, Bettina Siegele, Timothy Stroud, Studio TM
Photo Documentation Bruno D'Hubert, Daniel Jarosch
Support Pro Helvetia — Swiss Arts Council, République et canton de Genève, Ville de Genève, Société des Arts de Genève, SIG Foundation
Names may have been altered to preserve the privacy of those most needing protection.
2024
An anonymized version of these archives, now public, was used to customize a natural language processing algorithm, asking it to explore what could be done with the material today.
The AI immediately cross-referenced the data with information about the victims available online. It then suggested creating additional AIs, each specialized in different aspects of criminology. These AIs engage in a dialogue on two monitors as if the screens themselves are conversing.
Une version anonymisée de ces archives, désormais publiques, a été utilisée pour personnaliser un algorithme de traitement du langage naturel avec pour objectif d’explorer ce qu’il serait possible d’en faire aujourd’hui.
L’intelligence artificielle a immédiatement croisé ces données avec les informations disponibles en ligne. Elle a ensuite proposé de créer d’autres IA, chacune spécialisée dans un aspect de la criminologie. Sur deux moniteurs, ces IA dialoguent, comme si les écrans eux‑mêmes étaient en conversation.
Group show — Faits divers : une hypothèse en 26 lettres, 5 équations et aucune réponse, MACVAL, Contemporary Art Museum of Val‑de‑Marne, Paris, France
Digest of Citations — Faits divers...
Catalogue — Surlapierre, Nicolas, and Vincent Lavoie (eds.). Faits divers: Une hypothèse en 26 lettres, 5 équations et aucune réponse. Paris: In Fine éditions d’art, 2024
Interview — with Marion Menou
Development and AI Engineer Mike Sinsoillier
Editing, Sound Design Nicolas Cilins
Archives Cantonal Archives of Vaud, Vaud Security Police, photographic collections of Simon Glasson, Charles Morel, and Jacques Thévoz
Acknowledgments Yan Duyvendak, Charlotte Terrapon, Johanna Viprey
Support Pro Helvetia — Swiss Arts Council, République et canton de Genève, Ville de Genève
2024
The book includes an academic essay by Kathleen Bühler, film historian and chief curator at the Kunstmuseum Bern, a philosophical reading by French philosopher and art critic David Zerbib, and a conversation between German curator and researcher Anja Lückenkemper and Nicolas Cilins.
Le livre comprend un essai critique de Kathleen Bühler, historienne du cinéma et conservatrice en chef du Kunstmuseum de Berne, une lecture philosophique du philosophe et critique d'art français David Zerbib, ainsi qu'une conversation entre la commissaire et chercheuse allemande Anja Lückenkemper et Nicolas Cilins.
Publication — Stills From Seven Works, NERO Editions (publisher’s website)
Conversation — What Do We Do Now That We Are Together?, with Anja Lückenkemper
Text — Marginal Tactics: Dealing with Resistant Facts, by David Zerbib
Text — The Video Essays of Nicolas Cilins — Fictional Archives between Reality and Truth, by Kathleen Bühler
Conversation Anja Lückenkemper
Essays Kathleen Bühler, David Zerbib
Film presentations Anja Lückenkemper
Graphic design Paul Chemetoff, Nicolas Cilins
English translations Daniel Hendrickson
Copy Editing Daniela Almansi, Elisabeth Raffy, Timothy Stroud Proofreading Anna Frederike Niebuhr, Elisabeth Raffy, Timothy Stroud
Studio Assistance Alexandre Collet, Bruno d’Hubert
acknowledgments Mohamed Al-Musibli, Dominique Auvray Yto Barrada, Marc Bembekoff, Erik Bullot, Diane Daval, Yan Duyvendak, Michèle Freiburghaus, Véronique Fréjabue, Christophe Kihm, Frank Lamy, Kelvin Lau, Anne-Belle Lecoultre, Pascal Mabut,Lina Majdalanie, Rosa Molina, Thierry Mouillé, Angelika Ramlow, Tina Smoljko, Charlotte Terrapon, Tien Nguyen The, Johanna Viprey, Frank Westermeyer, Uli Ziemmons
Support École nationale supérieure d’art de Bourges, Fondation Jan Michalski, Lausanne, Fonds municipal d’art contemporain, Ville de Genève, Pro Helvetia — Swiss Arts Council
2023
The three-channel video intertwines the therapeutic exercises with personal testimonies from participants. While amplifying voices usually hidden behind institutional structures, the work simultaneously reveals the ethnocentric, heteronormative, and colonial biases embedded in the museum’s permanent exhibition through fragmented visual elements and audio disruptions, including a speculative audio guide.
Sur trois écrans, l'œuvre mêle les exercices de danse avec les anecdotes personnelles des participant.e.s. Healing Routine donne un visage à celles et ceux qu'on ne voit jamais en même temps qu'elle éclaire les aspects ethnocentrés, hétéronormés et coloniaux de l'exposition principale du musée par des vues elliptiques et un audioguide fantasmé.
Exhibition page — International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum
Radio feature — RTS, Questions d’équilibre (FR)
Radio feature — Radio Vostok (FR)
TV feature — Léman Bleu (FR)
Article — Pascale Zimmermann Corpataux for Tribune de Genève (FR)
Listing feature — ch-cultura.ch
an invitation and exhibition by Elisa Ruscaworkshop Suzanne Z’Graggen and Maroussia Ehrnrooth
cinematography and sound Julie Bellard and Alexander Larsson
editing Nicolas Cilins
participants Nicolas Cilins, Fabienne Mendoza, Pierre-Antoine Possa, Cecilia Suarez, Susanne Staub
artistic advisor Yan Duyvendak
acknowledgments Dominique Auvray, Alexandre Collet, Dustin Duong, Michael Helland, Pascal Hufschmid, Sofia Kouloukouri, Anja Lückenkemper, Arnold Pasquier, Johanna Viprey, and the whole administration and guide teams at the museum
support International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, and Fonds Municipal d’Art Contemporain de la Ville de Genève
2022
Interview — Teddy Awards 2022
Feature — Berlinale Meets… Forum Expanded, Films interested in language and translation
Podcast — Agathe Arnaud (FR)
Text — Giuseppe Di Salvatore (FR)
Text — Noemi Ehrat (DE)
conception and cast Diva Cat Thy, Miss Tien Giang, Sim Let, Ngoc Huyen, Father Dragon, Hop Thu Thoai, Miss Tien’s husband, Nhu Y, Mr. Tu Dat, Mr. Trung
translation Dustin Duong
editing Dominique Auvray, Nicolas Cilins
sound mixing Philippe Ciompi
artistic advisor Yan Duyvendak
acknowledgments Dominique Auvray, Charlotte Terrapon
support Pro Helvetia — Swiss Arts Council, République et canton de Genève, Ville de Genève, Swiss Films and Federal Office of Culture
2021—2022
In the installation, they are given a face and provided with a space to recount their own stories and experiences from their homes in Benin, Jamaica, Indonesia, and England. They are paid the same hourly rate regardless of the country they live in.
Ceux que les universitaires appellent parfois les travailleurs fantômes, ceux qui façonnent le contenu et les services pour les entreprises technologiques et autres intelligences artificielles parlent de leurs expériences depuis chez eux au Bénin, en Jamaique, en Indonésie ou en Angleterre. Ils sont payés au même taux horaire quelque soit le pays où ils vivent.
Catalogue — Swiss Art Awards 2021
Video feature — Vernissage TV, Swiss Art Awards 2021
Feature — Make Room in Your Mouth, Wiener Art Foundation, Vienna @ KubaParis
Digital Lecture — Talk to Me!, Bern and Vienna Academies of Fine Arts, 2022, 78 minutes
conception and online performance Justin Bartley (born in Jamaica 2003, works in Negril), Karen Cooper (born in UK 1968, works in Nottingham), Regina Houedanou (born in Benin 1985, works in Porto Novo), Radithya Febriani (born in Indonesia 1996, works in Jakarta)
artistic advisor Yan Duyvendak
Installation views Guadalupe Ruiz, Swiss Art Awards 2021, Federal Office of Culture
additional documentation: Nicolas Cilins
Support FCAC Fonds Cantonal d'Art Contemporain, République et canton de Genève, FMAC Fonds Municipal d'Art Contemporain de la Ville de Genève
2021
Eight visitors-turned-performers then embodied these testimonies, capturing the ambiguous relation between the institution and its guests and providing the ground for reflection on the museum’s role as a public and social space.
Ils sont lus et interprétés par huit performers recrutés parmi les visiteurs comme une invitation à une réflexion sur les liens entre institutions culturelles, vie sociale et politique.
conception and cast Maria Bolshakova, Alexandra Veselova, Tatiana Voronina, Iriną Gorodzyskaya, Natalia Grigoryeva, Marcela Akhmedova, Nikolaï Mamonov, Yuri Sorokin production Theatrum 2021, Golden Mask festival curator Anton Fleurov
production manager Marina Kozlova
assistant director Julia Ryabova acknowledgments Ponomarenko Marina Vladimirovna, Maksimov Igor Borisovich, Sukhobokova Elena Arkadyevna, Rubleva Faina Borisovna, Reznik Margarita Iosifovna, Yakunina Galina Valentinovna, Belous Irina Nikolaevna, Alexander Perkhnyak, and the whole team of the Moscow Planetarium. support Vladimir Potanin Foundation and Pro Helvetia Moscow — Swiss Arts Council
2020
Using their voices and bodies, they reenact a selection of colonial archives from the Space Agency: directors, engineers, journalists, as well as the sounds of the construction site, the electronic devices, and the rocket launches.
One projector displays the name of the source document, and the other displays the subtitles.
conception and cast Payaka Guyane collective: Alice Fontellio, Marcellia Fontellio, Brigitte Victorine, Yolaine Wande artistic advisors Yan Duyvendak, Johanna Viprey
acknowledgments Dominique Auvray, Andrea Bellini, Benoit Delaunay, Perrine Gamot and the team at the Centre National d’Études Spatiales cultural laboratory
support Ville de Genève, Fondation Simón I. Patiño, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
2020
The Way We Walk’s main character is a treadmill that offers itself as a surface for projection, a machine to tell stories; a Trojan horse to question the policies of censorship.
Le personnage principal de The Way We Walk est un tapis de course, une surface de projection, une machine à raconter des histoires et un cheval de Troie pour défier la censure.
conception and camera Nicolas Cilins
translation Dustin Duong
editing Dominique Auvray
acknowledgements Lêna Bui, Yan Duyvendak, Philipp Fröhlich, Nora Molitor, Anja Lückenkemper, the Duong family, and all the participants
support Litterarisches Colloquium Berlin, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Grenzganger Program, Fonds Cantonal d'Art Contemporain, République et canton de Genève, Stanley Johnson Stiftung
2020
cast, camera, songs Karen Cregan
editing Nicolas Cilins
support FCAC Fonds Cantonal d'Art Contemporain, République et canton de Genève, ENSA Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’art, Bourges, France
Participatory performance series, multiple European cities, 70 minutes
conception Nicolas Cilins, Yan Duyvendak, Nataly Sugnaux
production La Bâtie-Festival de Genève; far° Festival des Arts Vivants, Nyon; Marche Teatro/Inteatro Festival – Ancona, Pour-cent culturel Migros
support République et canton de Genève, Ville de Genève, Pro Helvetia - fondation suisse pour la culture, crédit de la Confédération destiné à l’intégration, Fondation meyrinoise du Casino, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Fondation Leenaards, Fondation Ernst Göhner, Bureau de l’intégration des étrangers BIE, Fondation JTI, fondation sesam, Ville de Versoix, Ville de Bernex, Ville de Satigny, Fondation suisse des artistes interprètes - SIS, Loterie Romande, CORODIS, Fondation du Jubilé de la Mobilière, FLUXUM Fondation
2018
Here, Cilins does away with limits; between the madness of obsessive compulsive disorders, the documentation of performances and mysticism, taking us on a fitful journey into the solitude of their nights within the confines of their flat.
Cilins abroge ici les limites : entre la folie des troubles obcessionnels compulsifs, la documentation de performances et le mysticisme. Il nous emporte dans une promenade agitée, confinée dans son logement, dans la solitude de ses nuits.
conception, performance, editing Nicolas Cilins with the help of several witch doctors
acknowledgements Yan Duyvendak, Lina Majdalanie, Johanna Viprey, Uli Ziemmons
text Valentin Carron
support Fonds Cantonal d’Art Contemporain, Republic and Canton of Geneva; Fonds Municipal d’Art Conteporain, City of Geneva; Federal Office of Culture
installation views Guadalupe Ruiz, Swiss Art Awards 2018, Federal Office of Culture
2015
The two re-enact some scenes from their past and present lives in a number of short role-plays; sometimes cartoonish, sometimes visibly heartfelt and emotionally charged. They recall their farewell from their family homes in Romania, simulate some of their experiences as rent boys in Geneva, look up their favorite songs online with the two cameramen on the set, and share their financial issues and other worries.
Tous deux rejouent des fragments de leur vie passée, tantôt mimées, tantôt empreintes d’une émotion enfantine. Ils évoquent les adieux à leur famille, leurs difficultés financières, rejouent certaines de leurs expériences de travailleurs du sexe, recherchent des chansons en ligne qu’ils partagent avec les deux cameramen présents sur ce plateau de fortune.
conception and cast Adi, Florin, Nicolas, Felipe
editing Dominique Auvray
cinematography Nicolas Cilins & Felipe Monroy
translation Irina Ionita
sound mixing Philippe Ciompi
acknowledgements Arnaud & Bertrand Dezoteux, Yan Duyvendak, Dominique Fabre, Iulia Hasdeu, Christophe Kihm, Hakim Mastour, Sophie Pagliai, Jean Perret, Lina Majdalanie
support FCAC Fonds cantonal d’art contemporain, Geneva, and HEAD – Geneva University of Art and Design
2013
I processed and printed an empty film to be installed alongside descriptions of what the invisible pictures would have shown. Transcriptions of the interview as well as a ground floor map of his apartment complete the installation.
J’ai développé une pellicule vide accompagnée de légendes qui décrivent les images invisibles. L’installation est complétée par la transcription de nos échanges et le plan de son appartement.
conception Nicolas Cilins
acknowledgments Yan Duyvendak, Johanna Viprey, Hakim Mastour
support Kiefer Hablitzel Stiftung
2013
The film "strings together anecdotes that point out the dillema between fictionnalisation and the simultaneaous commercialisation of history as well as capture the nostalgic longing for the good old days."
Le film « enchaîne les anecdotes qui mettent en relief le dilemme entre la fictionnalisation et la commercialisation simultanées de l’Histoire en même temps qu’il capte l’inévitable nostalgie du bon vieux temps. »
conception and cast Viliumas Malinauskas, his family, and his team
editing Dominique Auvray, Nicolas Cilins
camera Nicolas Cilins, Felipe Monroy
acknowledgments Dominique Auvray, Marc Bembekoff, Nicole Borgeat, Diane Daval, Yan Duyvendak, Julien Fronsacq, Christophe Kihm, Marcus Kleinfeld, Andrius Leliuga, Thierry Mouillé, Catherine Queloz, Tomas Sinkevicius, David Zerbib
support Biennale de Sélestat 2013, Fonds Cantonal d’Art Contemporain, Republic and Canton of Geneva, Summer Lake Residency, École Supérieure d’Art Annecy Alpes