Campus Collaborations / Private Frontiers: Media Legacies of the Cold War

Campus Collaborations / Private Frontiers: Media Legacies of the Cold War

September 9–December 13, 2026

Private Frontiers presents new and recent work in photography, video, and installation by four contemporary artists who engage the Cold War as a prism for understanding today’s media-saturated world. Through methodologically-driven practices drawing on historical archives, news broadcasts, pop songs, and game theory, Naeem Mohaiemen, Prajakta Potnis, TJ Shin, and Tiffany Sia examine media as a crucial arena in which politics was articulated and contested in the second half of the twentieth century.

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  • Massive cauliflower lit from behind in warm yellow light that makes it appear like a bulbous formations filling a refrigerator interior.

    Prajakta Potnis, still life, 2009. Digital print on archival paper. Courtesy the artist and Project 88, Mumbai.

  • Two monitors hang from ceiling mounts showing individuals reading cards against white backgrounds; right screen displays subtitle text.

    TJ Shin, Delta (detail), 2026. Monitors, speakers, chairs, carpet, dimensions variable; open duration, randomized programming, edition 1/3 + 1AP. Courtesy of the artist and Ehrlich Steinberg, Los Angeles. Photo: Evan Walsh

  • Black-and-white photo of a man speaking at a podium with multiple microphones, flanked by officials on a draped stage.

    Naeem Mohaiemen, Das Stasi Panoptikon, Tele 1: Mauern fallen immer (still), 2026. Single-channel video, color, sound; 4 min. Courtesy the artist.

  • Text overlay reads: "Beijing made an opportunity from Murdoch's ambitions. Private satellite dish"

    Tiffany Sia, Still from Scroll Figure #9, 2026. From Scroll Figures, 2022–. Courtesy the artist and Maxwell Graham Gallery.

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Upcoming Films

  • Celluloid Frontiers: A Missing Can of Film and Stop Genocide

    Co-sponsored by the Institute for South Asia Studies, UC Berkeley and the Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, UC Berkeley, and the South Asia Art Initiative at UC Berkeley.

    Thursday, October 29, 7 PM
    Naeem Mohaiemen and Tausif Noor in Conversation

    In conjunction with the exhibition Private Frontiers, BAMPFA presents Naeem Mohaiemen’s A Missing Can of Film (2025) and Zahir Raihan’s Stop Genocide (1971)—a film edited in the style of Soviet Realism and Third Cinema during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

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Past Films