Seeing against Seeing
by Alexey Yurenev

Seeing against Seeing is an artist book made in collaboration with Teun van der Heijden and the Anti-Krieg Museum, Berlin. This book is one of several outcomes of Silent Hero, a visual research project and historical investigation into his grandfather’s memory of WWII that he never spoke about. At the core of this artist book is an anti-war manifesto, War Against War! published in 1924 by the German anarcho-pacifist Ernst Friedrich. To divest the image of war of glory and honor, Friedrich collected photographs from WWI depicting the horror and ugliness of war, pledging to all lands and mankind to stop war by exhibiting photographic evidence of its horrifying aftermath.

About the Author

Alexey Yurenev is an artist, visual researcher, and educator whose work explores the intersections of memory, technology, and production of knowledge. He is adjunct faculty in the Visual Arts MFA Program at Columbia University and a faculty member at the International Center of Photography (ICP). His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including FOAM (Amsterdam), Hangar (Brussels), MOMus Modern/Costakis Collection (Thessaloniki), and Rencontres d’Arles. He is the author of the book Seeing Against Seeing (2025). Yurenev’s projects have been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, Literary Hub, and Topic. His work is held in collections such as Johns Hopkins University Special Collections, FOAM Museum, and the Anti-Krieg Museum. He has been recognized by Photographer of the Year International and received the Silurian Society Award for excellence in arts and culture journalism. He has also been nominated for an Emmy Award and the FOAM Paul Huf Award.

About the Speakers

Catherine Griffiths is a designer and researcher exploring the politics of machine learning in society. She is an Assistant Professor teaching in the Computational Design Practices program at Columbia GSAPP. Griffiths views algorithms as contemporary sites of struggle and studies their impact on labor operating across different scales, including cities, workplaces, and within the home. She investigates a post-AI human rights landscape that redefines labor relations, gender politics, algorithmic governance, and the rights to the city.

Bogna Konior is a scholar and a writer whose work focuses on emerging technologies. She is currently Assistant Professor of Media Theory at NYU Shanghai, where she works at the Artificial Intelligence & Culture Research Center, and the Interactive Media Arts department. She is the author of Dark Forest Theory of the Internet (Polity, 2025). With Benjamin Bratton and Anna Greenspan, she is the editor of Machine Decision is Not Final: China and the History and Future of Artificial Intelligence (Urbanomic, 2025).

Naeem Mohaiemen is Director of Undergraduate Studies, Visual Arts, at School of the Arts, Columbia University. He combines films and essays to research forms of utopia-dystopia in South Asia after the ruptures of 1947 and 1971. He is the author of Prisoners of Shothik Iitihash (2014), Midnight's Third Child (2023), and Bengal Photography's Reality Quest (2024). He was a Society of Fellows scholar and currently serves on the Governing Board of the SOF/Heyman.

This event is co-presented by the Machine Visions series, Visual Arts Dept, Columbia University School of the Arts

Please email [email protected] to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs. This event will be recorded. By being present, you consent to the SOF/Heyman using such video for promotional purposes.