Hito Steyerl and the museum presence of her critical video works
Published on 06/24/2026 at 22:48 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael MĂĽller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Hito Steyerl has become one of the key voices for how museums handle digital images and video. Her essayistic installations connect geopolitics, technology and the circulation of pictures in ways that collection departments now treat as central to contemporary art.
Museum acquisitions and key works
One of Hito Steyerl’s most widely discussed pieces in institutional collections is How Not to Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File, a 2013 video work that entered the Museum of Modern Art’s collection in New York as part of its focus on post-internet practices.
The work dissects surveillance, resolution politics and invisibility, using didactic video tropes and absurd choreography to show how images are weaponized and resisted. Its presence at MoMA anchors Steyerl firmly within the global canon of moving-image art.
Nationalgalerie and European holdings
In Berlin, the Nationalgalerie and Hamburger Bahnhof have followed Steyerl’s trajectory closely, presenting large-scale installations that treat the museum as an infrastructure of data and power rather than a neutral container. These holdings helped cement her reputation across European public collections.
Other institutions, from the Centre Pompidou in Paris to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, have acquired video essays and multi-channel works that align with their broader interest in media art and conceptual approaches to documentary material. This network of collections creates a dense European presence for her practice.
Further reporting on Hito Steyerl in the archive
The AD HOC NEWS archive documents previous news on museum presentations, awards and discursive debates around Hito Steyerl’s work.
The work core and methods
Steyerl’s practice moves between single-channel video, multi-screen installations, lecture-performances and sculptural display of screens and technical equipment. She often combines her own footage with appropriated online material, statistics and animated graphics to map systems of control.
Text and voice-over play a central role, turning each work into a kind of moving essay that can be read as theory in images. This hybrid form has encouraged museums to rethink how to stage discursive, research-based art within exhibition spaces.
Where the artist stands now
Hito Steyerl continues to be collected and exhibited by major museums worldwide, with her existing works remaining active in rotation and no publicly announced new institutional opening date in the immediate 30-day window.
Key facts on Hito Steyerl
- Artist: Hito Steyerl
- Medium / Genre: Video, installation, essay film
- Born: 1966, Munich, Germany
- Place(s) of practice: Primarily Berlin, with international institutional collaborations
- Active since: Early 1990s, with increased institutional visibility from the 2000s
- Key work groups: How Not to Be Seen, Factory of the Sun, Liquidity Inc., Digital meditation pieces
- Current/last exhibition: Various collection presentations of How Not to Be Seen and related works at major museums such as MoMA and European institutions
- Major collections: MoMA (New York), Nationalgalerie/Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam)
- Awards: Recognized with international prizes and rankings for influence in media art and theory-oriented practice
- Next date: currently no announced date in the 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Hito Steyerl
Where can Hito Steyerl’s work be seen in museum collections?
Her video and installation works are held by institutions including MoMA in New York, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, often in rotating collection displays.
Which Hito Steyerl work has become emblematic of her museum presence?
How Not to Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File is frequently cited, a 2013 video essay on surveillance and visibility that entered MoMA’s collection and has been widely exhibited internationally.
What characterizes Hito Steyerl’s medium and approach?
She works mainly with video, installation and essay film, combining theory, documentary fragments, online imagery and graphic overlays to analyze how digital technologies shape politics, perception and institutional frameworks.
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