For most of us, the human experience is hauntingly beautiful, held in the quotidian, in aspects underlying, invisible, and ephemeral; what is transient becomes ultimately, invisible. In relation is our impermanence—cycles of life and death, creation and ruin, seen but also, greatly unseen. The perfect repair is invisible, not perceptible by vision; the more competent the fix, the less visible it is. What does it imply, to seek out the impermanent and anonymous?

Our coverage of 'The Power of the 'Invisibles'' by PART co-founders Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023, speaks of nature, culture, and our invisible, daily routines, as ‘inseparable’—“The power of everyday practices, which celebrate local skills, materials, and climate, has been a common characteristic of the East and the Global South,” they state. Here, they reclaim impermanence as an agent of hope, while asserting its beauty.

Another featured paper surveys the 'invisible intelligence' of AI: an ‘artificial’ entity fast pervading the creative fields, prophesising future digital fables. “If anyone were to create something akin to an architectural structure, the question becomes, what form will generate form?” the author questions. And columnist Lee Daehyung examines the impact of fandoms and their seemingly invisible communities on contemporary art, technology and culture.

Recognising diverse creative cultures is also understanding the invisible forces behind them—these are inconspicuous, extant sources of creation, equally like the unseen forces that sustain hate, violence, and oppression. Here, creative ‘invisibles’ are a lucid defence of transformative creations, and hope. What are the powers that make the visible, invisible, and invisible, visible?