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last updated Oct 2024

My name is Zainab “Zai” Aliyu and I'm a nigerian-american artist, designer and cultural worker living in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY). My work explores the cybernetic and temporal entanglements within societal dynamics to understand how all sociotechnological systems of control are interconnected and how we are all materially implicated through time. I draw upon my body as a corporeal archive and site of ancestral memory to craft counter-narratives through sculptures, videos, installations, virtual environments, publications, archives, and social practice. ^more... more...

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[Group Exhibition] The Spirit Has Eyes Toward Longing at Artspeak Gallery
Oct 2024 — Dec 2024 · Vancouver, Canada

[Residency] NEW INC at New Museum
Sep 2024 — Sep 2025 · New York, NY

[Work] Co-director at School for Poetic Computation
since Jan 2021 · New York, NY

[Work] Designer, developer and strategist at Independent studio practice
since Aug 2017 · New York, NY

formerly filter: all presenting practicing speaking teaching publishing documenting

[Residency] The Luminary
Oct 2024 · St. Louis, MO

[Group Exhibition] CODING at Vienna Design Week
Sep 2024 · Vienna, Austria

[Group Exhibition] Sacred Screenshots at HEART
Aug 2024 — Sep 2024 · New York, NY

[Review] Notes from New York: Group Shows, Everywhere on ArtReview
Jul 2024

[Group Exhibition] Spiral Time at Smack Mellon
Jun 2024 — Aug 2024 · Brooklyn, NY

[Residency] ACRE
Jun 2024 — Jul 2024 · Steuben, WI

[Residency] Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
May 2024 — Jun 2024 · Deer Isle, ME

[Solo Exhibition] A litany for past suns labeled rituals / A star lit any and all possible futures: Part I (Anaglyphs) at Film at Lincoln Center
May 2024 · New York, NY

[Panel] Contemporary Artists on their Practices, Processes and Purpose at Pocoapoco
May 2024 · New York, NY

[Residency] Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA)
Apr 2024 · North Adams, MA

[Grant] Media Arts Assistance Fund (MAAF) from WaveFarm
Apr 2024 · New York, NY

[Artist Talk] Virginia Commonwealth University
Feb 2024 · Richmond, Virginia

[Class] Instruments of the Black Gooey Universe at the School for Poetic Computation
Jan 2024 — Mar 2024 · Brooklyn, NY

[Panel] Genealogies of Sustenance: Opening Reception and Conversation at Gardiner Museum
Jan 2024 · Toronto, Canada

[Group Exhibition] Genealogies of Sustenance at Gardiner Museum
Jan 2024 — May 2024 · Toronto, Canada

[Fellowship] Post-Doctoral Project Fellow at ITP/IMA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Jan 2024 — May 2024 · New York, NY

[Guest Critic] Parsons, The New School
Dec 2023 · New York, NY

[Artist Talk] “Echoes in the Archive: Decoding Colonial Legacies through Sonic and Textual Intervention” at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Dec 2023 · New York, NY

[Panel] Moderator* Software for Artists Day at Pioneer Works
Nov 2023 · Brooklyn, NY

[Publication] Software for Artists Book 3: In Poetic Coalition published by Pioneer Works & Artbook | D.A.P.
Nov 2023 · New York, NY · print

[Artist Talk] Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts
Oct 2023 · New Brunswick, NJ

[Workshop] Barro, moho, manifiesto: Un otro taller de creación del mundo / Mud, mold, manifest: An other world-building workshop at Pocoapoco
Oct 2023 · Oaxaca, Mexico

[Panel] American Artist, Zainab Aliyu, Taylor Levy and Che-Wei Wang Explore The Black Gooey Universe presented by The Kitchen
Sep 2023 · New York, NY

[Group Exhibition] Typojanchi: The International Typography Biennale at Culture Station Seoul
Sep 2023 — Oct 2023 · Seoul, Korea

[Fellowship] Digital/Electronic Arts Fellow at NYSCA/NYFA
Sep 2023 — Sep 2024 · New York, NY

[Residency] Pocoapoco
Sep 2023 — Oct 2023 · Oaxaca, Mexico

[Group Exhibition] Electronic Café for Poetic Computation at Recess
Jul 2023 — Aug 2023 · Brooklyn, NY

[Fellowship] Processing Foundation
Jun 2023 — Sep 2023 · New York, NY

[Residency] Session Artist Residency at Recess Arts
Jun 2023 — Aug 2023 · Brooklyn, NY

[Publication] From the Sasha into the Zamani: Death as a Moment of Radical Continuity published by Logic(s) Magazine
May 2023 · internet · print

[Solo Exhibition] From red dust to Black clay at Film at Lincoln Center
May 2023 · New York, NY

[Lecture-Performance] “A morte como momento de continuidade radical / Death as a Moment of Radical Continuity” at Center for Arts, Design, and Social Research
Apr 2023 · São Paulo, Brazil

[Residency] Conscientizações Críticas Tecnológicas (Technologies of Critical Conscientization) at Center for Arts, Design, and Social Research
Apr 2023 — May 2023 · São Paulo, Brazil

[Artist Talk] p5.js Community Salon at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Mar 2023 · New York, NY

[Residency] Aktuelle Architektur der KulturImages (AADK Spain)
Mar 2023 · Murcia, Spain

[Group Exhibition] Linguagem Manual / Manual Language at Buinho Institute
Feb 2023 · Messejana, Portugal

[Residency] Buinho Institute
Feb 2023 · Messejana, Portugal

[Screening] google my memories at Microscope Gallery
Nov 2022 · New York, NY

[Residency] Advisor* L.A.B. Residency at The Kitchen
Nov 2022 — Sep 2023 · New York, NY

[Feature] How a new guard of creatives is changing the way we engage with data on Friend of Friends
Oct 2022

[Feature] Reimagining Black Futures with Black Beyond on Cult Classic Mag
Sep 2022

[Solo Exhibition] freedom is a durational practice at Film at Lincoln Center
May 2022 · New York, NY

[Artist Talk] p5.js Access Day
May 2022 · internet

[Class] Dark Matters: On Blackness, Surveillance and the Whiteness of the Screen at the School for Poetic Computation
Mar 2022 — May 2022 · internet

[Group Exhibition] Assembly, Alchemy, Ascension at Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
Feb 2022 — Mar 2022 · New York, NY

[Artist Talk] WordHack at Babycastles
Feb 2022 · internet

[Fellowship] Future Imagination Collaboratory at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Jan 2022 — Jun 2023 · New York, NY

[Feature] Meet black beyond, the collective centring Black femmes in the world of digital art and design on It’s Nice That
Nov 2021

[Panel] AncestryandMe: DNA Processing Kit on Montez Press Radio
Nov 2021 · New York, NY

[Lecture-Performance] Digital Networks, Aesthetics and Black Death at Black Portraitures: Absent/ed Presence
Oct 2021 · Toronto, Canada

[Class] AncestryandMe: Critical Approaches to DNA Analysis and Biometric Surveillance at the School for Poetic Computation
Jul 2021 — Aug 2021 · internet

[Lecture-Performance] Interweaving Poetic Code at CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile)
Apr 2021 · Hong Kong, China

[Group Exhibition] Wheaton Biennial: final_final_FINAL at Beard and Weil Galleries
Mar 2021 — May 2021 · Norton, MA

[Panel] Dictionary of Dark Matters on Montez Press Radio
Jan 2021 · New York, NY

[Publication] “Limitlessness and Limitations: Defining Dark Matters” for Are.na Annual: On Tending published by Are.na
Dec 2020 · internet · print

[Guest Critic] Parsons, The New School
May 2020 · New York, NY

[Class] Dark Matters: On Blackness, Surveillance and the Whiteness of the Screen at the School for Poetic Computation
May 2020 — Jul 2020 · internet

[Workshop] Dark Spirals: Schematics for Collective Sense-Making, Learning and Dreaming (001: FESTAC'77) at The Africa Center
Feb 2020 · New York, NY

[Group Exhibition] Curator* Seven Years of Poetic Computation: Code and Power at Westbeth Gallery
Jan 2020 · New York, NY

[Publication] “Imaginary Numbers: On Unjust Equations and the Negation of Blackness” for Tiny Tech Zines presented at NAVEL
Aug 2019 · Los Angeles, CA · print

꩜ full cv available upon request

A series of multimedia works that use the metaphor of the lenticular—a technology revealing multiple images from different angles—to expose concealed narratives, distortions, and illusions that uphold oppressive systems. Inspired by Audre Lorde, Tara McPherson, and Situationist practice, the series foregrounds an alternate imaginary of entangled time, viewing spaces of temporal transition as opportunities to challenge the binaries, fragmentation, and scarcity mindset of capitalist ideology.

Exhibited at Smack Mellon (Jun - Aug 2024 · Brooklyn, NY). Reviewed on ArtReview (Jul 2024). Published on The HTML Review (Mar 2024).

Lenticular Temporalities: 2949596 / ∞, 2024. Installation (cowrie shells, brass, bronze, copper, wood, resin, ferrite rings, clay, lenticular print, risograph print, multi-channel video). Variable dimensions. Photo by Etienne Frossard.

A pair of Black hands—cast from my own bandaged hands—hold a memory object reminiscent of both the opele divination chain from my Yorùbá Nigerian heritage and early computer memory. This installation recognizes the overlooked contributions of Black women who served as human computers during NASA's Apollo missions, while honoring the ancestral memory of Indigenous African knowledge systems erased by colonialism. By invoking a "lenticular temporality," I celebrate my grandmothers and their connection to these practices, affirming our ongoing relationship with the past.

Lenticular Temporalities: Negotiating Obfuscation, 2024. Virtual Environment. Variable dimensions (responsive website).

“Lenticular Temporalities: Negotiating Obfuscation” is a web experiment that that seeks to locate the power in physically engaging with hidden or layered realities. It examines how shifting perspectives can reveal hidden meanings and emphasizes the agency involved in uncovering what is initially concealed.

Lenticular Temporalities: Negotiating Obfuscation, 2024. Virtual Environment. Variable dimensions (responsive website).

foregrounding an alternate imaginary of entangled time Lenticular Temporalities

A counter-narrative installation exploring how cultural value systems are encoded in the objects we build and the mythologies they conjure. The installation resurfaces the overlooked contributions of women in early computing through gendered divisions of labor, while drawing functional and aesthetic connections between early computer memory and the opele divination chain, a form of ancestral memory from my Yorùbá Nigerian lineage. Programmed as an 8-bit counter, it challenges Western capitalist doctrines of linear temporality and future-facing “progress” by reviving an archive from my grandmother’s home, resisting the erasure of memory.

Published in Logic(s) Magazine (May 2023). Presented as a lecture-performance at Black Portraitures: Absent/ed Presence (Oct 2021 · toronto, canada) and the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (apr 2021 · hong kong, china). Featured in Ocula (Jul 2021) and Creative Applications (Jan 2020). Exhibited at the School for Poetic Computation (Dec 2019 · new york, ny).

Death as a Moment of Radical Continuity, 2020. Installation (cowrie shells, copper, brass, bronze, ferrite rings, magnet wire, arduino, multi-channel video). Variable dimensions.

From the Sasha into the Zamani, 2020. Virtual Environment (two-channel generative video). Interactive.

The installation’s visual program references ontological aspects of non-linear time in East African tradition, where the past is viewed as an infinitely capacious realm that we are approaching, rather than moving away from. This contrasts with Western capitalist ideals that prioritize future-facing “progress” at the expense of erasing the past. Depending on the orientation of the eight shells—facing up or down—a number between 0 and 255 is drawn, functioning as an 8-bit binary counter. A corresponding image from a forgotten archive of 256 photos from my grandmother—who has the closest link to this practice in my lineage—is triggered by the shells’ orientation.

From the Sasha into the Zamani, 2020. Virtual Environment (two-channel generative video). Interactive.

From the Sasha into the Zamani: Death as a Moment of Radical Continuity, 2023. Essay.

interrogating the cultural value systems that are encoded into the objects that we build Death as a Moment of Radical Continuity

An experimental, durational moving image meditation foregrounding anthems of celebration across the diaspora, traversing borders to create an infinite pan-African chorus of shared somatic vibrations. Drawing on Saidiya Hartman’s concept of the chorus, the piece distorts colonial residues and remnants of empire in the ongoing struggle for collective liberation, evidenced in the historical effigies of national freedom songs across the diaspora, many still imbued with chauvinistic and patriarchal constructs. The text computationally weaves over 100 anthems, protests, and hymns, while the sound draws from a personal archive of Afro-diasporic instruments.

Recipient of Wave Farm Media Arts Assistance Fund (Apr 2024) and Processing Foundation Fellowship Grant (Jul 2023). Presented as a solo exhibition at Film at Lincoln Center (May 2022 · New York, NY).

About Freedom is a Durational Practice, 2023. Artist Talk.

Freedom is a Durational Practice, 2022. Virtual Environment (single-channel generative video). Infinitely playing.

traversing borders to fabricate an infinite, pan-African chorus of shared somatic vibrations Freedom is a Durational Practice

A non-linear audiovisual poem reimagined for the web, challenging traditional relationships between reader, text, and authorship while fully leveraging the internet’s potential for presenting text and sound. The poem explores themes of migration, lineage, and the mythology of the American Dream, offering my perspective as a Nigerian-born immigrant.

featured in cult classic mag (sep 2022). exhibited during Assembly, Alchemy, Ascension at Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery (feb 2022 — mar 2022 · new york, ny). published on reading machines (jan 2021 · internet).

Affirmations for my Existence, 2021. Virtual Environment (single-channel interactive video with audio). Variable dimensions (responsive website).

challenging established relationships between reader, text, and authorship Affirmations for my Existence

An audiovisual meditation on technologically-mediated memory, haptic visuality, and critical fabulation. By contextualizing the current and future limitations of personal and collective memory tied to specific spaces, landscapes, and times—memories that are increasingly fragmented without technology—I highlight the dissonance felt when personal memory is not as expansive as a search engine, emphasizing the divide between memory and technology. The piece situates technology within a diasporic imaginary, exploring how machines mediate the affects of displacement, human mobility, and (re)settlement.

exhibited at microscope gallery (nov 2022 · new york, ny) and black beyond: origins (jun 2021 · internet). featured in cult classic mag (sep 2022) and it's nice that (nov 2021).

Google My Memories, 2022. Video (single-channel). 4:05min.

exploring the ways in which machines can mediate the affects of displacement, human mobility and (re)settlement Google My Memories

A concept— developed through a residency, class and several publications— that proposes that "instruments" drawn from critical theory, electronics, and networked performance practice can be deployed to probe and counter the opaque world of computing and the racial biases embedded within computational systems.

developed during residency at The Kitchen (sep 2022 - sep 2023). published on montez press radio (sep 2023). taught at school for poetic computation (jan - mar 2024).

Speculative Instruments of the Black Gooey Universe, 2024. Publication. 10in x 15.25in, 42pg.

A publication born from the collective imagination of participants engaged in ten weeks of interdisciplinary study in critical theory and hardware, it features open blueprints, creative narratives, and provocative illustrations that invite readers into a speculative space where Blackness forms the foundation of virtual creation. Over 40 imagined tools, technologies, and practices probe and reimagine the complexities of the digital world, challenging the obscured layers of computing and its embedded racial biases.

Speculative Instruments of the Black Gooey Universe, 2024. Publication. 10in x 15.25in, 42pg.

countering the opaque world of computing and the racial biases embedded within computational systems Instruments of the Black Gooey Universe

A publication bringing together experiences of collective action, “In Poetic Coalition” focuses on labor organizing within the arts and tech industries. It explores the potential for creating alternative networks of education and challenges the material conditions that hinder our ability to enact new realities with dignity and security. By defying traditional models of institution-building, it asks: What possibilities for gathering can materialize, and what kinds of learning and unlearning can we practice together?

Edited by me and published by pioneer works press. released alongside Pioneer Works’ 8th Software for Artists Day and the School for Poetic Computation’s 10th anniversary (nov 2023).

In Poetic Coalition, 2023. Publication. 4.75in x 8.25in, 128pg.

imagining what kinds of learning and unlearning we can practice together when we defy existing models for institution-building In Poetic Coalition

A people's dictionary on surveillance, racial capitalism and technology, The Dictionary of Dark Matters emerged from a summer 2020 course in which thirty students studied the critical theory of technology, co-led by American Artist and myself. Together, we created an assemblage of knowledge rooted in our shared histories, composed of poetry, prose, creative writing, personal narratives, and illustrations inspired by the terms we encountered. The class and its resulting publication offered us intentional time to reflect on and navigate the predatory systems we were learning to name, while existing within them.

Designed by me and organized by myself and American Artist at the School for Poetic Computation (may 2020 — jul 2020). Written about in Are.na. Available here.

Dictionary of Dark Matters, 2020. Publication. 5.5in x 8in, 565pg.

Dictionary of Dark Matters, 2020. Virtual Environment. Variable dimensions (responsive website).

Reading the Dictionary of Dark Matters, 2021. Social Practice (public reading). 60min.

Limitlessness and Limitations: Defining Dark Matters, 2021. Essay.

self-publishing an assemblage of knowledge on surveillance, racial capitalism and technology Dictionary of Dark Matters

An experimental school, residency, and research group supporting interdisciplinary study in art, code, hardware, and critical theory. I view poetic computation as an act of resistance against utilitarian notions of “efficiency” and “progress,” which often replicate structures of domination. Through my work within the school, I aim to contribute to a learning commons and study space where individuals can creatively harness this resistance—through generosity, curiosity, and openness—and support one another in re-building the world with care.

the school for poetic computation was founded in new york city in 2013.

School for Poetic Computation Trailer, 2022. Video.

School for Poetic Computation Website, 2021. Virtual Environment.

Instruments of the Black Gooey Universe, 2024. Social Practice.

Electronic Cafe for Poetic Computation, 2023. Social Practice.

AncestryandMe, 2021. Social Practice.

Dark Matters, 2022. Social Practice.

supporting interdisciplinary study in art, code, hardware and critical theory School for Poetic Computation

A community resource for exploring our ancestral histories within the context of biometric surveillance and DNA tracing technology. Initially developed as a curriculum, it examines the colonial and capitalist legacies of biometric data, addressing both the theoretical promises and ethical challenges of these technologies. By encouraging participants to question the exploitation and commodification of personal data, AncestryandMe unites communities in opposition to harmful surveillance practices, offering tools for critical introspection and collective resistance.

ancestryandme is a class stewarded by american artist and myself at the school for poetic computation (jul 2021). our dna processing kit audio project was published by montez press radio (nov 2021 · new york, ny).

AncestryandMe: DNA Processing Kit, 2022. Social Practice (oral history). 60min.

A community resource for exploring our ancestral histories within the context of biometric surveillance and AI-driven DNA tracing technology. Initially developed as a curriculum, it examines the colonial and capitalist legacies of biometric data, addressing both the theoretical promises and ethical challenges of these technologies. By encouraging participants to question the exploitation and commodification of personal data, AncestryandMe unites communities in opposition to harmful surveillance practices, offering tools for critical introspection and collective resistance.

AncestryandMe: DNA Processing Kit, 2022. Social Practice (oral history). 60min.

learning about ancestral history within the context of biometric surveillance/DNA tracing technology AncestryandMe

A clothing collection and performance that explores the concept of “creeping normality,” reflecting on ongoing social and environmental degradation. Drawing parallels between the accelerated effects of the global climate crisis, the gradual erosion of civil liberties during interwar Germany, and the desensitization to continued police brutality in the United States, the collection serves as a metaphor, cautioning against the dangers of gradual change. Elements in the line transition from one extreme to another through minimal yet deliberate alterations, mirroring the evolving cultural, political, and environmental landscapes in constant flux.

presented at carnegie mellon university's annual experimental fashion show, lunar gala, in collaboration with kate werth and jonathan lopez (feb 2016). Written about in Carnegie Mellon News, TribLive and The Tartan (feb 2016).

Erode, 2016. Sculpture.

unpacking the notion of creeping normality to reflect upon perennial social and environmental degradation Erode

A six-part anthology of one-act plays about ^[1] the contemporaneity of sociologist Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) that describes identity, construction of self, and human behavior as a series of performances shaped by time, place, and audience; ^[2] the relationship between the online disinhibition effect and notions of default whiteness, surveillance, and power structures on the Internet; ^[3] the role of design in replicating offline oppressive systems into online contexts; ^[4] and my experience growing up in virtual spaces.

presented as my BFA thesis at carnegie mellon school of design (may 2017).

Dog Cat Fish, 2017. Publication. 8.5in x 11in.

While Erving Goffman didn't live to see the prevalence of digital communication, much of his analyses of face-to-face interactions can be applied in virtual contexts through the lens of the online disinhibition effect, which describes the loosening of social restrictions when communicating on digital platforms. Each piece of the six-part series focuses on a digital social platform and portrays the implications of computer-aided affordances (e.g. default whiteness, surveillance, identity tourism, identity curation, catfishing, identity theft, cyber bullying, trolling) in order to build upon Goffman's original approach.

Dog Cat Fish, 2017. Publication. 8.5in x 11in.

analyzing notions of identity and presentation of self in physical realms and virtual contexts Dog Cat Fish