All welcome, pre-registration required

Facilitated by artist-researcher Nisma Hamid, this session explores the limits of artefact restitution and the evolving possibilities of digital repatriation, asking what happens to cultural meaning once an object is displaced from its material and geographic context. Moving beyond traditional frameworks, the workshop draws inspiration from alternative cartography techniques to trace how meaning circulates across borders, institutions and digital spaces. Participants will engage in a collective mapping activation, contributing to a shared exploration where meaning resides today—beyond the object itself, and within networks of memory, interpretation and cultural imagination.

This programme is organised by Assembly 2025-2026 member Mahasin Ismail as part of the Youth Takeover 2026.

Nisma Hamid (Nis) is a curator, researcher, global thinker and cultural practitioner with a background in political science and cultural diplomacy. She is committed to the democratisation and accessibility of arts and cultural discourse through public programming, archival practice and independent virtual platforms. Her curatorial practice takes shape through her role as Assistant Curator at Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Curator and Research Lead at nrtve., an independent curatorial and archival project rooted in West Asia tracing artistic and cultural narratives across the African diaspora. Thinking through Afro-descendant and diasporic identity formation in the Arab world, Nis is concerned with modern and contemporary art of Africa and the diaspora and culturally rooted beautification and performance practices. She is also an avid reader, retired ballerina and multidisciplinary artist with a dedicated practice in body and textile art.

Mahasin Ismail is a curator, art writer and MFA Producing student for Theatre and Live Performances. She works at the crossroads of visual art and performance, exploring overlooked global narratives and experimenting with new ways that technology and design can shape exhibitions and audience experiences.