Vita
Dima Dobrovolskij is an artist based in Berlin whose work emerges from ruptures, shifts in perspective, and a drive for freedom in expression. Shaped by migration, multiple languages, and different cultural realities, he developed an early sensitivity to ambiguity, friction, and what remains unspoken between people. From a life lived between languages, ruptures, and fragmented forms of belonging, collage became not only a medium but also a method: an attempt to reread what is broken apart and to reassemble it differently. Here, collage is not merely a technique, but a way of thinking — a practice of working with fragments from which new realities can emerge.
Before visual art came to the forefront, language was his first artistic medium. Rap, poetry, and collective musical work formed an important space of expression over many years. In total, seven albums with more than 200 songs were created. Rhythm, directness, and poetic compression continue to shape his visual practice to this day. His hip-hop years also found their way into literature: a chapter in Merle Hilbk’s Chaussee der Enthusiasten is dedicated to this period of his life. Equally formative was Berlin’s hip-hop and event culture, within which he organized festivals and cultural formats over many years.
This practice was further expanded through his involvement in several media productions and socially engaged projects, including collaborations with Salome von Berlin. The resulting formats reached a wide audience and sharpened his understanding of visual communication, cultural mediation, and the impact of images in public space.
Dima Dobrovolskij consciously moves between contradictions: analysis and intuition, tenderness and hardness, political alertness and poetic openness. His works do not seek the smooth or merely decorative, but rather tension, conviction, and inner truthfulness. For a long time, Berlin has been an important space of friction for this. Yet movement remains part of his path. What emerges is a practice that seeks to provoke, connect, analyze, and transform — without settling into fixed definitions.
Currently in Progress
Derzeit entstehen mehrere Werkserien und konzeptuelle Projekte an der Schnittstelle von Collage, Recherche und gesellschaftlicher Beobachtung. Im Zentrum stehen Fragen nach Wahrnehmung, Verantwortung, Gewalt und dem Verhältnis zwischen innerer und äußerer Wirklichkeit.
FIELD 28 — Artistic research journey
I am planning a one-year artistic research journey through twelve countries for 2028. It is part of my long-term research on symbiosis and explores how perception and relationships change through changes in location, encounters, and shifts in perspective.
Twelve guiding questions form the starting point of the journey. They address the relationship between people, the environment, and social structures and will be reexamined at each location. The goal is not to find universal answers, but rather to reveal differences, contradictions, and local realities, and to allow one’s own perspective to be shaped by other perspectives.
The journey combines artistic research with artist residencies, encounters, conversations, and on-site collaboration. Collected materials, observations, voices, and experiences become part of a growing archive and are incorporated into collages, drawings, material-based works, as well as audio and video works.
The research begins even before the journey, in Germany. Starting in 2028, it will continue internationally—each location expands the project with new relationships, materials, and perspectives.
The ongoing research process, the twelve guiding questions, sources, and emerging materials are documented in Research Space 28.
365-Day Calendar
An ongoing calendar project with daily visual and textual impulses that invites reflection on one’s own life situation and the tensions of the present.
Deconstruct Patriarchy
An interdisciplinary project dedicated to deconstructing patriarchal structures through visual, digital, and auditory works. A growing platform for new narratives, shifts in perspective, and intergenerational exchange is planned.
Exhibitions
- group: 05.06 – 26.07.25 / Fresh Legs Berlin
- group: 14.03 – 02.04.25 / 48. Kunstpreis der Kulturstiftung der Sparkasse
Karlsruhe - duo: 24.11-26.11.23 / Weihnachsmythologie und Kommerz with Sebastian Herrling
Bass CS Gallery / Berlin - duo: 08.07.2023 Beziehungsweise
Kunst im Park Mauerpark/ Berlin - group: 16.02 – 11.03.23 CUT + PASTE
LiTE-HAUS Galerie / Berlin - solo: 13.01.23 Deckensprung
Bass CS Gallery / Berlin - group: 26.04-23.05. 22 Der Herr ist mein Hirte – Psalm 23 – Berlin / Zwitschermaschine
- solo: 30.04–8.05.22 / Perspektiven runden Winkel
Atelierhof Kreuzberg / Berlin - workshop: 13.04.22 / Workshop – Abstrakte Collage
LAB.57 / Artspring / Berlin - solo: 11.04–17.04.22 / Pop up store
LAB.57 / Artspring / Berlin - solo: 13.12-10.01.21 / ddetox
BAS CS Gallery / Berlin - group: 28.04-7.05.21 / Magic Mystery Tour
Vinogradov Gallery / Berlin - duo: 15.04-26.04.21 / Perfektionismus Maximus with Lisa d.Robin
Vinogradov Gallery / Berlin - solo: 06.07-18.07.20 / pop up store
BIO COMPANY GmbH - solo: 31.01-02.07.20 / woman
Petersburg Art Space / Berlin - Online: 17.04-20.04.20 Art Gallery
Ostanders / Nürnberg - group: 8.08.20 / Battle of the formats, circles against squares
BAS Gallery / Berlin - workshop: 13.04.20/ Workshop
Abstract Collage / Berlin - workshop: 21.10.20/ Workshop
Abstract Collage / Berlin