ph. Candice Breitz, Dear Esther (15 May 2020), 2025, single-channel video, colour, loop, 35 minutes - Commissioned by steirischer herbst 2025
There are exhibitions that feel more urgent than others — and this is certainly one of those cases. A terrible genocide is taking place in Palestine. Faced with all this, we cannot remain silent, we cannot be indifferent and simply turn the page. Never Again Means Never Again is an act of solidarity with Palestine — from the gallery, from its artists, and with the special collaboration of Candice Breitz — against this war and against all wars.
It is not an exhibition in the classical sense, but rather a symposium in which space and time are expanded to encourage reflection and awareness. Never Again Means Never Again unfolds in reverse: the exhibition setup will reveal itself little by little; we will paint it together. It is an exhibition to be experienced through its moments of gathering, every Saturday for three weeks: Saturday 6 December 2025, from 11 am to 7 pm; Saturday 13 December 2025, from 11 am to 7 pm; Saturday 20 December 2025, from 11 am to 7 pm.
The symposium will also be an opportunity to raise funds in support of the Palestinian population through workshops by reservation — minimum donation €10, maximum 20 participants per workshop; to book, write to
All proceeds will be donated to Medici Senza Frontiere to support their medical and humanitarian work in Gaza.
SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER 2025
11:00 am (eng, ita) — 60 min
CANDICE BREITZ (online), Never Again Means Never Again — talk
Live online connection with Candice Breitz, who will present Never Again Means Never Again, the project she conceived to raise funds in support of Palestinian journalists.
12:00 pm
BOTTO & BRUNO, JACIR, KAHRL, VERONESI — installation of works
12:30 pm (ita) — 45 min
MEDICI SENZA FRONTIERE (MSF) — presentation of activities for Gaza
Medici Senza Frontiere (MSF) is an international medical-humanitarian organization providing urgent healthcare to populations affected by conflicts, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from care, operating independently, neutrally and impartially.
3:00 pm (eng, ita) — 90 min
MARGUERITE KAHRL, Navigating Crisis: Ecologies in Flight. Bird Migration and Habitat Loss in Gaza — participatory workshop
Marguerite Kahrl will focus on ecocide and on the systemic implications of habitat destruction caused by war. Participants will be invited to bring their creativity into play to imagine resilient responses to these challenges, addressing the ecological collapse caused by the Israeli attack on agricultural lands, olive groves, water systems and infrastructure of the Palestinian people. Ecology and systems thinking will offer many possibilities for exchange and interaction.
Special thanks go to Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, Director of the Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University, for his invaluable contribution to Marguerite Kahrl’s research on the environmental damage of war and its effects across the Levant, including the fundamental bird migration systems that cross the region.
Min. €10 (by reservation:
5:00 pm (ita) — 45 min
MEMORIES AND STORIES OF PALESTINE, with Vincenzo Valenti — performed readings
Performed readings of excerpts from articles, novels, poems and essays by some of the most influential voices in contemporary journalism, philosophy, literature and art — from Judith Butler to Francesca Albanese, from Maaza Mengiste to Omar El Akkad, from David Grossman to Masha Gessen — offering deep reflections on the sense of loss of humanity we are experiencing and have been experiencing for far too long.
6:00 pm (eng, ita) — 45 min
CANDICE BREITZ, Dear Esther (May 1943) / Dear Esther (15 May 2020) — film screening
In her short-film series entitled Dear Esther — commissioned by steirischer herbst 2025 — Candice Breitz reflects on the experience of living in a (German) nation guilty of once again choosing to support genocide. Narrated in the artist’s own voice, each film takes the form of a letter addressed to musician and anti-fascist activist Esther Bejarano (1924–2021), who survived Auschwitz and Ravensbrück as a young woman, only to be later accused of antisemitism because of her sharp criticism of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER 2025
11:00 am (eng, ita) — 60 min
BANI ABIDI (online) in conversation with EMANUELE GUIDI — talk
Books of Others is an initiative recently launched by Pakistani artist Bani Abidi in the heart of Kreuzberg, Berlin, as a response to the past two years of intense political instability. The conversation will focus on the meaning of this living/reading room where books, food and rest become forms of comfort and the centre of a community practice.
12:00 pm
BUCAK, FRAPICCINI, MEREDITH-VULA, STOIAN — installation of works
12:30 pm (ita) — 45 min
STILL ALIVE, with Anna Rabufo — podcast presentation
Still Alive is a narrative podcast created by Anna Rabufo in collaboration with Noise Reduction Studios, giving voice to Amal, the pseudonym of a young Palestinian woman from Gaza who recounts her daily life under siege. It is a story of friendship, resistance, and life that persists despite the war.
Listen to the first episode.
3:00 pm (ita) — 90 min
HANNO UCCISO HABIBI by Shrouq Aila, with Vincenzo Valenti — staged reading
Hanno ucciso habibi (They killed habibi) is a testimony to human resilience and the courage of a people whose determination to rebuild their future from the rubble remains unshaken. A book that leads us into the heart of darkness of our world, refusing to allow us to look away and teaching us what it means to love.
5:00 pm (ita) — 45 min
WETLANDS, with Luca Cosentino and Anna Nadotti — talk
Presentation of They Killed Habibi and its publisher, Wetlands, a non-profit social enterprise and a space for encounters and exchange, inspired by principles of equality, participation, appreciation of diversity, respect for the environment and cultural pluralism.
6:00 pm (eng, ita) — 45 min
CANDICE BREITZ, Dear Esther (May 1943) / Dear Esther (15 May 2020) — film screening
In her short-film series entitled Dear Esther — commissioned by steirischer herbst 2025 — Candice Breitz reflects on the experience of living in a (German) nation guilty of once again choosing to support genocide. Narrated in the artist’s own voice, each film takes the form of a letter addressed to musician and anti-fascist activist Esther Bejarano (1924–2021), who survived Auschwitz and Ravensbrück as a young woman, only to be later accused of antisemitism because of her sharp criticism of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER 2025
11:00 am (eng, ita) — 60 min
MALAK MATTAR (online) — talk
in collaboration with Corrado Gugliotta (Galleria Laveronica)
During this online event, Malak Mattar, an internationally renowned artist born in 1999 in the Gaza Strip and raised under occupation and military siege, will share her story and the struggles of her people through her work.
12:00 pm
BAIMA POMA, DE PIETRI, FERRERI, PUGNO — installation of works
12:30 pm (ita) — 60 min
SILENT BOOK CLUB (SBC) of Turin — silent reading movement
An hour of silent reading in the gallery, in collaboration with the Silent Book Club (SBC) of Turin, followed by a sharing of texts and poems: an invitation to slow down and reflect together on the present through reading.
3:00 pm (eng, ita) — 60 min
LALA MEREDITH-VULA (online), My Home — workshop
A workshop through which Lala Meredith-Vula recounts her homeland — Kosovo — in the period just after the 1999 war. The images she captured, filtered through her personal sensibility, trace a land deeply marked by conflict.
Min. €10 (by reservation:
4:00 pm (eng, ita) — 45 min
DAR YUSUF NASRI JACIR FOR ART AND RESEARCH (online) — talk
Presentation of Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research, a project dedicated to promoting the exchange of knowledge in the educational, cultural and agricultural fields in Bethlehem.
6:00 pm (eng, ita) — 45 min
CANDICE BREITZ, Dear Esther (May 1943) / Dear Esther (15 May 2020) — film screening
In her short-film series entitled Dear Esther — commissioned by steirischer herbst 2025 — Candice Breitz reflects on the experience of living in a (German) nation guilty of once again choosing to support genocide. Narrated in the artist’s own voice, each film takes the form of a letter addressed to musician and anti-fascist activist Esther Bejarano (1924–2021), who survived Auschwitz and Ravensbrück as a young woman, only to be later accused of antisemitism because of her sharp criticism of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.
6:30 pm
LOTTERY DRAWING
