BERLIN.- C/O Berlin presents the exhibition The Lure of the Image from Jun 20 to Sep 2, 2026.
How do images bait or beguile us as they circulate online? How do they compel, capture, or control us? The fourteen artists presented in this exhibition engage with visual phenomena that serve as vehicles for online communication, criticism, and humor. They highlight the crucial role images play in shaping our social, cultural, and political landscapes.
The Lure of the Image invites visitors to explore the visual worlds of social media feeds, dating app profiles, beauty filters, memes, ASMR videos, “cute” and “cursed” images, emojis, computer-generated imagery, and pixelated screenshots used for conspiracy or protest. The artworks track the complex mechanisms of the lure in digital space, shedding light on how images and their underlying structures—from algorithms to datasets—direct our attention, provoke emotions, and influence opinions, often leading us astray or sending us in the wrong direction.
Through juxtapositions of various media strategies—from archives to installations and collage-based works—and spatial staging that oscillates between overpowering and reflection, the artists reveal the contradictions of digital imagery.
In the installation #Ingrid (2022), Zoé Aubry (b. 1993) examines the gruesome reality of systemic violence against women by archiving a digital protest movement that replaced degrading images of a crime with dignified images from collective memory.
In The Wave (2025), Dina Kelberman (b. 1979) dedicates her immersive video installation to the phenomenon of ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) by condensing thousands of seemingly soothing clips into an overwhelming image-and-sound landscape that reveals an ambivalence between relaxation and sensory overload.
In #dominicanwomengooglesearch (2016), Joiri Minaya (b. 1990) questions cliché depictions of female bodies on the internet and exposes the colonializing, exoticizing gaze that is reproduced by search algorithms.
Jenny Rova (b. 1972) reflects on her personal experiences of online dating in A MILF DREAM—My matches on Tinder (2024), showing how intimacy, desire, and self-representation are negotiated in standardized forms of self-presentation.
In her precisely arranged still life photographs in Digital Semiotics (2024–25), Viktoria Binschtok (b. 1972) investigates the ubiquitous role of emojis, their ever-evolving meanings, and their cultural and sociopolitical implications. She highlights their user-friendly application, while emphasizing how they shape complex public discourse, circumvent political censorship, and potentially foster solidarity and activism.
Finally, Noura Tafeche (b. 1987) analyzes in her in-depth research project Annihilation Core Inherited Lore ٩)๏ ͡๏ ̯ ͡)۶ (2023–) how kawaii aesthetics, a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness and innocence, and pop-cultural visual languages are instrumentalized for spreading violence, ideologies, and propaganda.
Together, these works reveal how digital images shape our perception and open up spaces for criticism and counterimages.
With works by Zoé Aubry, Sara Bezovšek, Viktoria Binschtok, Sara Cwynar, Éamonn Freel x Lynski, Dina Kelberman, Michael Mandiberg, Joiri Minaya, Simone C Niquille, Jon Rafman, Jenny Rova, Hito Steyerl, Noura Tafeche, and Ellie Wyatt.
Curated by Marco De Mutiis, Doris Gassert, and Alessandra Nappo (Fotomuseum Winterthur) and adapted by Boaz Levin for C/O Berlin. An exhibition publication is available.
