One week until INCA’s ‘Data Materialities’ opens in Bologna

12 September 2025 By

On Saturday, September 20, the INCA exhibition “Data Materialities” will open in Bologna, hosted in the historic Sala d’Ercole of Palazzo d’Accursio, where it will be on view until October 12.

The exhibition features contributions from artists and studios, including EXTENTS (McClain Clutter and Cyrus Peñarroyo), Morgane Billuart, Rául Silva, and soju.studio, who explore the material impact of digital technologies on our environments. In an age where digital technology is increasingly pervasive, the exhibition invites visitors to look beyond the “virtual” surface to discover the infrastructure, labor, and materials behind every interaction with our devices.

The final works that make up the exhibition emerged from the Big Tech and Counter-Technologies residency held in October 2024, in which invited professionals were asked to develop projects that critically addressed the materiality of technocapitalism on a micro, meso, and macro scale. Issues related to labor, logistics, infrastructure and space permeate each project, collectively raising questions such as: What is the spatiality of the digital? And how can we propose and visualise alternative imaginaries?

The result is a series of works that interpret research on data materialities into three interior, architectural environments. These environments invite viewers to sit and reflect upon data materialities, and consider how the digital is reliant upon, and communicates through space. The exhibited works stimulate the search for alternative imaginaries and forms of digitalization different from the reductive, authoritarian narratives of large corporations.

Data Materialities is part of INCA and has been carried out by the University of Bologna in collaboration with the Fondazione IU Rusconi Ghigi and Big Tech Watch Think Tank. It is curated by Carmen Lael Hines and Into the Black Box (Niccoló Cuppini, Maurilio Pirone, Mattia Frapporti) with the assistance of Sara Marhuenda Barberá, Universitat Politècnica de València.

The opening event will take place on Saturday, September 20, at 5:00 PM, followed by a buffet. Additionally, the exhibition will be accompanied by a series of talks and public meetings in a hybrid format, aimed at researchers, professionals, students, and citizens. Positioned at the intersection of art, architecture, research, and design, these events aim to foster a broad public conversation about Big Data in the platform age.

Exhibit Opening Hours

  • Tuesday–Thursday: 9 AM – 6 PM
  • Friday: 3 PM – 6 PM
  • Saturday–Sunday: 9 AM – 1 PM
  • Monday: Closed

Program

  • Saturday, September 20, 5:00 PM: Exhibition opening, Sala d’Ercole, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
  • Tuesday, October 1, 6:00 PM: Talk with Letizia Chiappini (Slutty Urbanism) and Benjamin Gerdes (Ghost Platform Project), Sala Tassinari, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
  • Wednesday, October 8, 6:00 PM: Talk with Lua Vollaard (Superkilo Girls) and Lorenza Pignatti (NABA Milano), Sala Tassinari, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
  • Friday, October 10, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Meeting “Piattaforme e digitale: un modulo educativo per le scuole”, Sala Anziani, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna)
  • Friday, October 10, 4:00 – 5:30 PM: Meeting “Design partecipativo di nuove piattaforme digitali per la città: linee guida, buone pratiche etiche e alternative a confronto”, Sala Anziani, Palazzo d’Accursio (Bologna), followed by a guided tour and closing buffet. Registration is available at this link.

*Public program and side events: Ghost Platform Project, Superkilo Girls, Slutty Urbanism and Lorenza Pignatti

*Data Materialities is also part of Bologna Estate 2025, the program of activities promoted and coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna and the Metropolitan City of Bologna – Bologna-Modena Tourist Territory.