Iliada Charalambous
Tools for Assembly
18.09.2026–25.10.2026
exhibition curated by Giulia Menegale
public programme and publication co-curated with 10 documents
opening on September 18 – 6-9 pm
Lateral Roma is pleased to announce Tools for Assembly, Iliada Charalambous’s first solo exhibition in Italy, curated by Giulia Menegale.
The Public Program and Publication are co-curated and produced with 10 documents (Ginevra Ludovici & Flavio Michele).
The opening of the show at Lateral is on Saturday, September 19th, 6-9 pm and will be preceded by a Reading Counterpower session running on the same day, from 4 to 6 pm at Lateral.
Tools for Assembly presents the work of Rotterdam-based artist Iliada Charalambous (b. 1993, Republic of Cyprus) through the collaborative processes that constitute a central part of her artistic practice. In particular, the exhibition draws on True Counterpower (2023–ongoing), an artistic and political inquiry initiated by Charalambous in collaboration with activist Serda Demir. First developed through a series of assemblies at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the project has since taken the form of workshops, collectively produced banners, and the biweekly reading group Reading Counterpower (2024–ongoing), now operating as a confederated network with chapters in, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague.
Bringing together documentation materials from previous iterations, the exhibition foregrounds the tools and methodologies developed through different iterations of the reading group to facilitate collective learning and civic imagination. Central to the presentation is the Reading Counterpower Protocol (2026), a set of collaboratively written guidelines for creating spaces of encounter across diverse communities from an internationalist perspective.
Prior to the opening, on Saturday, 19 September, from 4 to 6 p.m., Charalambous will facilitate a session of Reading Counterpower, free and open to all.
The publication will be available at Lateral on the day of the event in exchange for a donation and will subsequently be distributed by 10 documents. All proceeds will support social promotion associations active in Rome.
The project was realised with the generous support of the Embassy and the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Special thanks to the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, for the generous loan of Reading Counterpower Protocol (2026) and to the Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie.
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Iliada Charalambous (b. 1993, Cyprus) is an artist based in the Netherlands whose work is engaged around the notion of the commons, methods and tools for collective organising and potential forms of resistance. She is currently leading the program Assembling in Resistance at Bak, Basecamp for Tactical Imaginaries and collaborating with Serda Demir on Reading Counterpower (2024-ongoing) at the Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie. She has recently collaborated with Demir on True Counterpower at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2023–25), and has completed the BAK Fellowship for Situated Practice (2023–2024).Her recent exhibitions and projects include The Young Artist Mediterranean Biennale, Research Interrupted, Positions: Elsewheres at Stroom Den Haag (2023), Mingling with Againness at Halle 14, Leipzig (2023), Traveling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills at Casco Art Institute, Utrecht (2022), and the 8th International Degrowth Conference at Nest, The Hague (2021).
Giulia Menegale (b. 1995, Venice) is an independent curator, researcher, and writer based in Venice. Her recent projects include the co-curated seminar Escuela de institucionalidad transformativa y organización local at Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2026), the co-curated educational program Convivial Gathering at Platform Greeting the Spring at ChunYangTai Centre for Arts and Cultures, Guangzhou (2026), and Rewired Structures, Hidden Currents at Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana (2025). In 2026, she co-initiated the long-term inquiry How to Keep a Place Alive with curator Biljana Ciric. She is currently a curator-in-residence at Luigi Pecci Contemporary Art Center through the Supertoscana program and a recipient of the 15th edition of the Italian Art Council. Her writing has appeared in Milica Tomić’s On Love Afterwards (Kunsthaus Graz, 2025) and The Routledge Companion to Art Biennials (2025).
