Kings College London

King's College London

The Curiosity Cabinet x The SIM Project

The SIM Project, by artist and anthropologist Liz Hingley centres the SIM card as a universal symbol of connection and a vital tool for building relationships. It was created in 2017 with Syrians on a resettlement programme in Coventry and evolved through residencies at King’s College London’s Digital Humanities Department, Houston Center for Photography and Migration Mobilities Bristol.

Eight years later, the project continues to evolve in collaboration with those who have experienced displacement and brings people together across social and political borders through making, using the SIM card as a platform to shape new ways of sharing and archiving stories of migration. Participants make a screenshot from the image archive on their phone, which is transferred onto a sim-scale glass model, framed in metal, polished and then stamped with ID numbers of personal significance. Each person makes one piece to add to The SIM Project collection and another to keep and wear. This transforms the project into a living exhibition and intimate archive, sharing stories of mobility and belonging.

'Waymarkers', supported and produced by King's College London and displayed in The Curiosity Cabinet at 171 The Strand, showcases the most precious images of people with roots in over 40 countries. These SIM-scale windows into people's everyday lives, values and relations are illuminated in multiple formats and scales - as a collective mosaic, framed pendants and blown up into a slideshow projection.

Alongside the collection of over a thousand SIM artworks, an elaborate jewellery piece has been unveiled in The Curiosity Cabinet for the first time, inspired by a significant story of welcome in a world where not just people but also materials and ideas are constantly in motion.

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Photography: Jack Latimer

Photography: Liz Hingley

Credits

Curator

King's Culture, King's College London

Design Team

Liz Hingley, Egemen Kiziclan, Frank Menger, Soe Boons, Alphabetical Studio

Sponsors / Partners

4JET Glass, Counterpoints Arts, King’s College London’s Department of Digital Humanities, Houston Center for Photography, Migration Mobilities Bristol

2025 Pavilions