The Museum of Things Unseen – Infrastructures of (In)Visibility

This seminar accompanies the 5th edition of the Lagos Biennial, The Museum of Things
Unseen, which reflects on how visibility is shaped—and withheld—by global systems of art,
infrastructure, and power. We will explore how cultural visibility is conditioned by both
technological structures and political decisions, examining the platforms, formats, and
archives that govern what becomes public and what stays hidden.

Rather than treating invisibility as a problem to be solved, the seminar considers it as a
strategic condition. For certain individuals or communities, remaining unseen may be both
tactical and necessary. We will reflect on the risks of exposure in a digital culture shaped by
surveillance and extraction—and explore how opacity, fragmentation, or refusal can act as
resistance. At the same time, we will investigate the possibilities and limits of interoperability
between informal or community-driven archives—especially those resisting commercial or
institutional capture. How can such collections circulate without being assimilated? How
might they connect across networks without exposing themselves to the extractive logic of
the open internet?

Through research, discussion, and prototyping, the seminar will ask:
– What are the technological underpinnings of being unseen?
– How can visibility infrastructures be hacked or repurposed?
– What tools, practices, and imaginaries are needed to share cultural memory without giving
it away?

Students will collaboratively develop contributions—installations, tools, performances, or
speculative systems—for presentation as part of the Lagos Biennial OFF programme in
autumn 2026.

Language: English