Greg Niemeyer’s Groundbreaking GifCollider Installation Concludes November 13

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life announces the final days of its digital installation GifCollider, Chapter 11: Night Vision. A study of collision and context, this continuously changing, interactive media art project by artist and UC Berkeley Professor Greg Niemeyer will conclude its run on November 13, 2025. 

“GifCollider reveals important but hidden aspects of the Magnes Collection in particular, and of Jewish traditions more generally. It presents sounds from ritual objects in the collection… [and] brings a very ancient object, the Menorah, in context with very contemporary forms of emotional expression, gif animations,” shared Niemeyer.

NightVision originated in the Magnes’ 2017 exhibition, The Power of Attention, and was later presented as part of Kabbala, an exhibit at the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam. In this digital artwork, Niemeyer focuses on materializing data to evoke an emotional response using GeoCities GIF animations, which he terms an “archeology of early internet emotions.” The visual “chaos” created is accompanied by a soundtrack of colliding GIFs using digital sounds from the Magnes’s 2013 Sound Objects exhibition.

The work’s title directly references the night vision described in the prophetic book of Zechariah, a text that the artist and former Magnes Curator Francesco Spagnolo collaboratively studied to inform the contemporary artwork’s development. The updated 2022 version incorporates the Menorah as described in Exodus. Spagnolo reflected, “The relationship of this new work, by an artist whose creativity is embedded in the life of the University, to the broad scope of the Magnes Collection, is thus represented in real-time for all visitors to enjoy.”

“GifCollider reveals important but hidden aspects of the Magnes Collection in particular, and of Jewish traditions more generally. It presents sounds from ritual objects in the collection… [and] brings a very ancient object, the Menorah, in context with very contemporary forms of emotional expression, gif animations.” — Greg Niemeyer, Data Artist and UC Berkeley Professor

Niemeyer is a highly respected figure in media innovation, serving as a UC Berkeley Art Practice Professor, Toban Fellow, and former director and co-founder of the Berkeley Center for New Media. His work is known for powerful collaborations across disciplines and media with a focus on data circulations among individuals, communities, and environments. Niemeyer adopts a synesthetic approach to the “floods of data in our world,” often creating installations that materialize data so that people can feel it, making complex information emotionally and physically tangible. Learn more about the artist and his work at https://www.gregniemeyer.com/.

On view since December 8, 2022, GifCollider is a gift from the artist and one of the museum’s first digital acquisitions. It powerfully expresses the Magnes’s commitment to exploring every angle of Jewish art and life, offering a dynamic and ever-evolving view of Jewish heritage in the digital age.

Don’t miss your final chance to see this unique piece of dynamicJewish art and experience the ever-changing interface featuring “archeology of early internet emotions” for yourself.

Plan your visit to the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life today!