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Collage of three individuals perceived as female, whose faces are partially painted with colorful dots and collaged with floral motifs.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising, 2025, Courtesy of Leila Hekmat and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi

Leila Hekmat: Roses Rising – The Movement

How does the bourgeois longing for revolt take shape, when the faith in progress and reason is unsettled? And how tightly entwined are self-interest and radical dissent? Berlin-based artist and director Leila Hekmat explores these questions in her newly commissioned performance Roses Rising – The Movement, premiering on 6 and 7 March in the Gropius Bau’s atrium. Moving between concert and ballet, the piece transforms the space into a landscape hovering between bunker, rehearsal room and dreamscape and invites the audience to witness a dinner party unravel into a happening. 

With meticulously handcrafted costumes and stage designs, Roses Rising unfolds in Leila Hekmat’s distinctive style, traversing comedy, musical tableau vivant and performance. Developed through extensive research and collected materials on 1970s protest cultures, the work emerges as a performative collage that explores the conscious and unconscious strategies through which people respond to a world in crisis. 

Roses Rising is presented in two parts in collaboration with HAU Hebbel am Ufer. After The Movement at Gropius Bau, the stage production The Dinner will premiere at HAU1 on 15 April 2026. 

Roses Rising – The Movement is curated by Nora-Swantje Almes, Curator Live Programme and Outreach, with Alexandra Philippovskaya, Assistant Curator Live Programme and Outreach, and Edessa Malke, Curatorial Fellow Live Programme and Outreach

Press Images

A selection of press images is available for media coverage of Leila Hekmat: Roses Rising – The Movement. Please contact presse@gropiusbau.de to request the login data to download high res press images.

The images can be downloaded and used free of charge prior to and during the exhibition period. Please note that images may not be cropped, overprinted or modified. We look forward to receiving any digital or hardcopy samples of publications.

Please forward or send them to the following address:

Gropius Bau
Birgit Schapow / Press Office
Niederkirchnerstraße 7
10963 Berlin
presse@gropiusbau.de

Collage of three individuals perceived as female, whose faces are partially painted with colorful dots and collaged with floral motifs.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising, 2025

Courtesy of Leila Hekmat and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi

JPEG, 4.13 MB

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Collage of two individuals perceived as female, whose bodies are painted in a light blue tone and whose faces are partially collaged with floral motifs.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising, 2025,

Courtesy of Leila Hekmat and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi

JPEG, 612.61 KB

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Collage of a person perceived as female, with a face partly painted in colorful dots and decorated with floral motifs.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising, 2025,

Courtesy of Leila Hekmat and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi

JPEG, 601.2 KB

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Two individuals on a stage lean against each other while wearing light‑colored, decorative outfits with painted patterns and attached fabric strips. One individual is positioned slightly in front of the other, and both are surrounded by soft, atmospheric lighting.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising – The Movement, Performance, Gropius Bau, 2026

© Gropius Bau, photo: Amely Sommer

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An individual stands on a stage bathed in red lighting, wearing a long, flowing skirt and decorative upper‑body costume with layered elements and fabric pieces. One arm is extended outward while the other rests near the torso.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising – The Movement, Performance, Gropius Bau, 2026

© Gropius Bau, photo: Amely Sommer

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An individual stands on a stage wearing a light-colored garment decorated with large, colorful shapes resembling petals or abstract motifs. A beaded necklace is visible around the neck. A microphone extends toward the person from the left side of the image. The lighting creates soft purple and pink tones with motion blur around the figure and background.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising – The Movement, Performance, Gropius Bau, 2026

© Gropius Bau, photo: Amely Sommer

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An individual in a light, form‑fitting costume with decorative elements is in a dynamic pose on a stage. Behind the person in the foreground, another person is visible in motion. The scene is presented in high‑contrast black and white, and blurred audience members can be seen in the background.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising – The Movement, Performance, Gropius Bau, 2026

© Gropius Bau, photo: Amely Sommer

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One person is positioned close to the face of another person. The person wears a garment made of light-colored fabric with multicolored decorative elements, including ribbons, patterned fabric pieces, and small floral components arranged around the head. Colorful fabric strips hang down, and the lighting creates strong contrasts of blue, green, and warm tones in the image.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising – The Movement, Performance, Gropius Bau, 2026

© Gropius Bau, photo: Amely Sommer

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An individual in a light, textured garment with ruffled detailing stands in a dimly lit performance setting. The person holds or touches a pale sculptural arm or prop extending into the frame from the left.

Leila Hekmat, Roses Rising – The Movement, Performance, Gropius Bau, 2026

© Gropius Bau, photo: Amely Sommer

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