Visual Intelligence

Looking forward to speak at this year’s @re_publica about information design as a cultural technique — and how, in times of data colonialism and technocapitalism, data-driven visual representation can become a tool for building civil counter-power. The talk brings together historical examples and projects from our practice Visual Intelligence. It’s going to be interesting — promise! Program will be Published soon.

Introducing the wonderful Germaine Acogny @germaineacogny 🙌🏽 We‘re grateful and deeply honored that the eminent dancer and choreographer will open the upcoming series UNEXPECTED LESSONS - Knowledges of Body and Sound with her solo performance “Somewhere At The Beginning“, framed by workshops, talks, and the Berlin premiere of the documentary film “Germaine Acogny – Die Essenz des Tanzes“ from from May 24 to 27, 2026 @radialsystem_berlin 🔥 Germaine Acogny is regarded worldwide as the ‘mother of contemporary African dance’. She dances, choreographs and teaches all over the world and has become an influential ambassador for African dance. From 1977 to 1982, she was the artistic director of Mudra Afrique, founded by Maurice Béjart and Senegalese President L. S. Senghor in Dakar. In 1997, Acogny was appointed artistic director of the dance department of ‘Afrique en Creation’ in Paris. Together with her husband Helmut Vogt, she founded the École des Sables in 2004, the international centre for traditional and contemporary African dance in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. Dance icon Germaine Acogny has received numerous international awards for her artistic work, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale in 2021 for her life’s work. The series is curated by Isabel Raabe (artistic director) @isabelraabe_01 and Celina Baljeet Basra (co-curator) @celinabasra and accompanied by Prof. Dr. Mariama Diagne @ndeyemarilu .   Dates May 24-27, 2026: UNEXPECTED LESSON 1 – Opening May 24, 2026
Workshop: Contemporary African Dance with Patrick Acogny May 25–26, 2026
Performance:  Germaine Acogny – Somewhere at the Beginning  May 25, 2026
Film premiere: Germaine Acogny – Die Essenz des Tanzes May 26, 2026
Artist Talk: At The Table With … Germaine Acogny, Patrick Acogny, Mansour Ciss Kakassy, moderated by Prof. Dr. Mariama Diagne and Isabel Raabe Mai 27, 2026
Workshop: Technique Acogny with Germaine Acogny Tickets and further infos via @radialsystem_berlin   The series UNEXPECTED LESSONS - Knowledges of Body and Sound is funded by the LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin.   © Antoine Tempe Visual: @visual.intelligence

Thank you to everyone who took part in Unarchiving Architecture – for your time, attention, and the generosity of your contributions. Across three days of talks, roundtables, and discussions, we came away genuinely enriched by the conversations and careful reflections shared throughout. Organised by the Chair of Architectural Heritage and Sustainability (Prof. Mariam Issoufou), ETH Zürich. Team: Dr. Sara Frikech, Dr. Martina Diaz, Dr. Noelle Paulson, Severin Weber, Rami Msallam, Virginia Zaretskie, Nico Canal. Web Development: Visual Intelligence With gratitude to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and ETH Zürich for the support that enabled this scientific exchange – and special thanks to the gta Archive (Sabine Sträuli, Irina Davidovici, Almut Grunewald, Marco Cascianelli) for their generous collaboration.

Day 1 of Unarchiving Architecture opened with Session I, “Practices and Methods.” The session began with an introduction to the chair’s multi-year research project and platform, presented by Professor @mariamissoufouk together with the chair’s research team. This was followed by a series of expert inputs exploring alternative approaches to architectural knowledge production, including contributions from @emilieapp from @ercwowa , @unfolding_something @delanyboutkan @stefaniekorrel from Collecting Otherwise @nieuweinstituut , and @danielle_rosales_official @visual.intelligence . The discussion set the stage for the workshop by reflecting on methods of documenting, interpreting, annotating and expanding architectural archives. Photo Credits Virginia Zaretski

Grateful to everyone who joined the Unarchiving Architecture workshop at @gta_archive_ethz We’re still reflecting on the rich and critical conversations that unfolded throughout the day. Special thanks to Sabine Sträuli and Almut Grunewald for co-curating the collection and generously sharing their expertise. We‘ve also had the pleasure to gain critical insights into the practices of Collecting Otherwise @unfolding_something @stefaniekorrel @delanyboutkan from @nieuweinstituut and @visual.intelligence @danielle_rosales_official as well as @ercwowa @emilieapp The workshop was organised by Sara Frikech, Martina Diaz, and Rami Msallam, with conceptual and graphic contributions by @severinweber_ and wonderful support of Noelle Paulson. Credits for @swissnationalsciencefoundation for making this scientific exchange possible. More to come soon.

Day 1 of the Unarchiving Architecture symposium begins, and I’ve been reflecting on my own position in this work. I’m Nigerien, but I access archival materials about Niger’s built history more easily now—as a professor at a European institution—than most researchers and heritage practitioners actually living and working in Niger. Geography and institutional affiliation create profound inequalities in who can write architectural history. Spending time in the gta Archiv here at ETH and parsing through material we previously obtained from the Archives Nationales d’Outre-mer, I find fragments of Niger’s history catalogued in France and in Zürich. Engineering reports from French colonial infrastructure projects. Photographs of buildings in Zinder taken by European during colonial entreprises. Planning documents for schools constructed under colonial rule. The irony isn’t lost on me. These aren’t ‘my’ archives in any simple sense—my architectural education didn’t include studying these records. Yet they document my country’s built environment, shaped by decisions made in Paris and executed by colonial administrators. This is why the symposium matters to me personally, not just professionally. It’s not abstract academic exercise. It’s about whether the architecture student in Lomé can access documentation of her city’s planning history. Whether communities can use records of their built heritage for preservation work. Whether architectural historiography gets written only by those with Northern institutional access. We’ve built the Unarchiving Architecture platform as one intervention—digitizing materials, creating discovery interfaces, enabling collaborative annotation. But over the next three days, we gather together to ask much harder questions about what digital restitution actually requires beyond technical infrastructure. Questions about power, access, interpretation, accountability. Questions I don’t have clean answers to. Ready to learn from the brilliant people joining us. #UnarchivingArchitecture #decolonization #Niger #Architecture #ETHZurich

18 February 2026 — Workshop Programme Unarchiving in Practice In partnership with the gta Archives, and with contributions from Collecting Otherwise, Visual Intelligence, and Women Writing Architecture, the first day takes the form of a hands-on workshop focused on selected photographic collections. Invited participants will work with architectural images produced in former colonial contexts, examining both how these materials circulate within archival systems and how they can be recontextualised through collective reading, visual speculation, and discussion. The workshop foregrounds unarchiving as a situated, collaborative practice that critically engages questions of access, authorship, and visibility. Presentations by Irina Davidovici @idavidovici Almut Grunewald @almutgrunewald and Sabine Sträuli from gta Archiv @gta_archive_ethz Setareh Noorani @unfolding_something Delany Boutkan @delanyboutkan Stefanie Korrel @stefaniekorrel 
(Collecting Otherwise) Robin Coenen @visual.intelligence @robin_coenen_official Leonhard Puhl
(Visual Intelligence) Emilie Appercé @women_writing_architecture (Women Writing Architecture) Mariam Issoufou @mariamissoufouk Martina Diaz Sara Frikech @frkch_ Rami Msallam @xeroverwrite Graphic Design: @severinweber_

⁨ ⁨ ⁨ ⁨ ⁨ ⁨ ⁨ באילו דרכים ניתן לחשוף את הכוח וההשפעה הבלתי נראים של אלגוריתמים המפרשים ומניעים דימויים בסושיאל מדיה? מה הן השאלות שניתן לשאול? כיצד כלים של עיצוב ומחקר חישובי יכולים לסייע לנו לראות ולחקור את המנגנונים רבי ההשפעה הללו? נעסוק בשאלות אלו במהלך סדנה בת 3 ימים המאורגנת על ידי תוכנית התואר השני בתקשורת חזותית, בצלאל אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב ירושלים בשיתוף עם פרופ' ענת בן-דוד (האוניברסיטה הפתוחה, ישראל) והמעצב רובין קונן (UDK, ברלין). הסדנא תתקיים באנגלית ימים 1+2: 30 בנובמבר - 1 בדצמבר, קמפוס בצלאל, ירושלים יום 3: 10 בדצמבר, CCA, קלישר 5, תל-אביב . . . ‪@vc_bezalel ‪@bezalel_academy ‪@robin_coenen_official ‪@visual.intelligence

Street photography lets me record without directing…. Just noticing what’s already there. Like a small mouse in the streets, I observe, dissect reality, anticipate… how bodies move through public space. #fineartprints available. If you’re collecting, follow along ❤️ Worldwide delivery. . . . . . #streetphotography #blackandwhitephotography #streetdocumentary #urbanexplorer #berlinphotographer #contemporaryphotography #monochrome #minimalism

korientation in Kooperation mit @dekoloniale 🎊 Wir blicken freudvoll zurück auf die feierliche Enthüllung der sieben Gedenkstelen, die im Rahmen der Dekoloniale 2024 für die temporäre Ausstellung "Wege des Erinnerns" entstanden sind. Vier Stelen im „Afrikanischen Viertel“ würdigen die neuen Namensgeber*innen des Manga-Bell-Platzes, der Anna-Mungunda-Allee, der Maji-Maji-Allee und der Cornelius-Fredericks-Straße – ein wichtiger Schritt nach langjährigem zivilgesellschaftlichem Einsatz für die Umbenennung kolonial belasteter Straßennamen. 🌍✊ 📍Weitere drei Stelen am Pekinger Platz, in der Kiautschoustraße und in der Samoastraße wurden in Zusammenarbeit mit Kimiko Suda und Sun-ju Choi für korientation erarbeitet. Kimiko Suda führte im Rahmen der Veranstaltung durch die „Asiatisch-Pazifischen Straßen“ und gab spannende Einblicke in ihre koloniale Geschichte und heutige Bedeutung. 📖🔍 Die Ausstellung bleibt ein Jahr lang im Stadtraum sichtbar: kommt vorbei und entdeckt die Orte kolonialer Vergangenheit an die wir heute erinnern wollen! #korientation #AsiatischeDeutsche

🕊️✨ Join us for a historic moment of remembrance, resistance, and celebration! ✨❤️‍🔥 On September 25, 2025, we will inaugurate seven memorial steles in Berlin’s African Quarter and along the Asian-Pacific Streets — honoring anti-colonial resistance fighters and shedding light on histories that must not be forgotten. 🖤 After decades of tireless civil society engagement for street renaming, these temporary steles are now being made visible in public space. Let’s walk these Paths of Remembrance together. 📍 Meeting point: 11:00 AM – Cornelius-Fredericks-Straße / corner of Kongo-Straße 🕚 From 11 AM to 7 PM, enjoy a full-day program of tours, talks, readings, performances & music – with artists and speakers like Sharon Dodua Otoo, @melanelle.hemefa , @the.swag.official , @josephine.apraku , and many more! 🎟️ Register here: 🔗 Link in bio Let’s remember, reclaim space, and celebrate together. We can’t wait to see you there! ✊🏾🎶📖 #PathsOfRemembrance #Dekoloniale #AntiColonial #DecolonizeBerlin #AfricanQuarter #AsianPacificStreets #MemoryCulture #BerlinEvents #TheSwag #SharonDoduaOtoo #MelanelleBCHemefa

Wie kann faire Kulturförderung aussehen? Unsere zwei neuen Leitfäden zeigen, wie diskriminierungskritische Juryarbeit gelingen kann. Einer ist für Fördergebende, der andere für Jurys. Themen der Leitfäden sind unter anderem Rahmenbedingungen für diskriminierungskritische Förderarbeit, diversitätsorientierte Jurybesetzung und die Zugänglichkeit von Förderprozessen. Beide Leitfäden findet ihr auf unserer Website (Link in Bio) zum Herunterladen. Viel Spaß beim Lesen! Grafik/Gestaltung: @visual.intelligence