The group exhibition “Leaking Collections” examines the entanglement of technology and heritage, revealing how contemporary digital practices such as artificial intelligence can reinforce the colonial legacies embedded in museum collections and heritage sites. Artist Ofri Cnaani’s three-channel video installation Leaking Lands (2022) serves as the point of departure for the exhibition, exploring the disastrous fire at the National Museum of Brazil in September 2018 that destroyed two centuries’ worth of treasures from the collection. The work traces the collection’s digital aftermath. A virtual tour of the museum, reconstructed from visitor photographs, is presented alongside recorded conversations with the institution’s caretakers and animated 3D models of museum artifacts, inviting a reconsideration of canonical indexing methods, data systems, and preservation practices.

Participating artists include Ofri Cnaani, Stephanie Dinkins, Lawrence Lek, LOOTY, and Skawennati.