Umber Majeed: J😊Y TECH uses speculative fiction to offer a counter-narrative of the Pakistan Pavilion at the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair. Majeed’s multimedia works look at the history of the Pavilion through the perspective of the South Asian diaspora, her ongoing Trans-Pakistan project, and the visual culture of phone repair shops in Jackson Heights, Queens. Trans-Pakistan is both the title of Majeed’s long-term research practice and the name of a tourist agency that was once owned and operated by the artist’s uncle. While the agency ultimately shuttered due to Islamophobic travel policies throughout the War on Terror, Trans-Pakistan continues to evolve as both metaphor and simulation in the artist’s digital universe. 

J😊Y TECH includes an augmented reality experience, installation, video, drawings, and ceramics that employ the language of the bootleg or counterfeit as a mode of worldbuilding. Calling to mind “South Asian digital kitsch,” storefront merchandising, and early web interfaces, Majeed’s fictional promotional campaigns and reimagined artifacts present alternative sources for filling in the gaps found in institutional archives. From hand-drawn posters and reconfigured maps to interactive AR postcards and 3D animations, the exhibition includes references to the Pakistan Pavilion’s architecture, displays, goods for sale, and other fragments of the pavilion that circulate online. Majeed explores histories that are in a constant state of redefinition, blurring the lines between what may be considered official or unauthorized, authentic or propaganda, legible or opaque. 

Umber Majeed: J😊Y TECH is organized by Lindsey Berfond, Assistant Curator and Studio Program Manager. 

About the Artist

Umber Majeed (b. New York, NY, 1989) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and educator. Her writing, performance, and animation work engage with familial archives to explore Pakistani state, urban, and digital infrastructure through a feminist lens. She received her MFA from Parsons the New School for Design in New York, NY and BFA from Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan. Majeed has presented her work in solo exhibitions at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY (2022); 1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virginia (2021); and the Rubber Factory, New York (2018). She has shown internationally in group exhibitions at Hayy Jameel, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2024); the Asian Art Biennial at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2021); Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, UAE (2019); the Karachi Biennale, Karachi, Pakistan (2017), among others. Majeed is a recipient of the HWP Fellowship from Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon (2017); the Refiguring Feminist Futures Web Residency from Akademie Schloss Solitude & ZKM, Germany (2018); the Digital Earth Fellowship from Hivos, the Netherlands (2018-2019); and the Technology Residency from Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY (2020).