Maria Ka: I Walk Alone, Having Been Boycotted by the World

This multimedia installation presents the clash between Maria Ka’s Yiddish artistic world and the phenomenon of the cultural boycott of Jewish artists—happening in Poland, too—in the context of the war in the Middle East. The concept of the installation "I Walk Alone, Having Been Boycotted by the World איך גיי אַליין. די וואָר האָט מיך בויקאָטירט" is based on the juxtaposition of two worlds—the creative and the political. In 2025, the latter intruded—by way of geopolitics—upon the artist’s creative trajectory, fundamentally reshaping the musical universe she had built so far.

The concept of the installation "I Walk Alone, Having Been Boycotted by the World"

The first part of the installation’s title paraphrases one of the main slogans of the Women’s Strike movement, in which the artist took an active part: "You Will Never Walk Alone." Its transformation reflects the current experience of many members of the Jewish community—one of isolation and cultural exclusion.

How is Maria Ka's installation constructed?

The installation is divided into several sections and is rooted in the artist’s personal experience of a wave of online abuse and threats surrounding the release of her fifth and most recent Yiddish-language album titled "Di Mashin (די מאַשין)," as well as numerous incidents of hatred she has encountered in her life beyond the digital sphere.

The installation symbolically stages a confrontation between the artist’s Yiddish creative world and the values on which it is founded—dialogue, connections, understanding, openness, unity in diversity, education, continuity, and peaceful coexistence—and a world marked by war, hatred, exclusion, cultural boycott, rejection, uncompromising judgment, and polarization. These two worlds are at once connected and separated by a symbolic line that represents both the possibility of encounter and a boundary—one reached when openness meets resistance.

The work is a study of loneliness, isolation, boycott based on one’s ethnic origin, and the absence of allies in the non-Jewish world. It also poses a fundamental question about the meaning of Jewish art and of creating in the Yiddish language in 2026.

The concert "Di Krigs Mashin (די קריגס מאַשין, The Machine of War)"

The installation is accompanied by the concert "Di Krigs Mashin (די קריגס מאַשין, The Machine of War)," featuring original songs in Yiddish interwoven with sonic layers composed of hate speech directed at Maria Ka over the past year.

Maria Ka – a lyricist, composer, vocalist, and pianist who creates original music in Yiddish. She is a three-time recipient of the Audience Award at Brazil’s Bubbe Awards. Combining Yiddish with alternative music, electronic music, punk, and electropop, she brings women’s stories and perspectives into the mainstream historical narrative. She has performed at leading Jewish cultural festivals in Poland and abroad. Her albums have been featured in, among others, "ARTE TV," "Sirius XM," "The Times of Israel," "The Forward," and "Tablet."

The project is part of the Rotating Gallery programme, which presents the work of Jewish artists. This year’s edition is dedicated to “boundary questions”, with successive presentations taking the form of installations and performative actions created by individual artists or collective.