Looking Back: Student Exhibition “We Only See What We Look At”

How do exhibitions shape what becomes visible – and what remains unseen? What responsibilities do curators have when presenting difficult histories?

These are some of the questions discussed in We Only See What We Look At, a student exhibition developed in Noémie Etienne's seminar Exhibiting People in the 19th Century: Places, Objects, Images. Through a series of research-based posters, the exhibition examined the histories and legacies of nineteenth-century "ethnographic" exhibitions in Vienna and reflected on issues of visibility, memory, representation, and curatorial practice.

Although the exhibition has now concluded, its questions remain highly relevant.

Read our blog to learn more about the project and the students' work.