Assya Agbere (born in 2002 in Metz) graduated from the Haute école des arts du Rhin (HEAR) in Mulhouse in 2025. In 2026, she was awarded a research and production residency at CRAC Alsace as part of the “Émergences Arts Visuels” program of the Région Grand Est, which aims to support emerging artists in building their professional networks.

In her master’s thesis, Afro Core (2024–2025)*, Assya Agbere examines the effects of cyber-globalisation: the worldwide export of an internet conceived through a Western lens. Far from being neutral or universal, this internet is structured by inequalities of access and representation, with the African continent particularly marginalised. In response to these dominant codes, the artist archives viral videos, memes and AI-generated images found on TikTok and Instagram, featuring African diasporas and the imaginaries associated with them. Through this activist gesture, she preserves a record of the images that shape perceptions of Africa and the stereotypes they perpetuate.

During her residency at CRAC Alsace, Assya Agbere develops a project entitled African Brainrot. Borrowed from the lexicon of internet culture, brainrot refers to the effects of excessive and uncritical consumption of online content. The artist appropriates this term to trace the representations of black cultures circulating on the internet. 

Assya Agbere’s residency will conclude with a solo exhibition, African Brainrot, at Delphi Space (Freiburg im Breisgau), from November 9 to 14, 2026. The opening will take place on Saturday, November 7, from 6 pm. Admission is free and open to everyone.

* Afro Core. Xploring the (non)Geographies of Cyberspace, Haute école des arts du Rhin, 2024–2025.