Central to the curatorial concept of ISOE were the ISOE Pre-Events held from late 2011 until early 2013 in Alexandria, Paris, Istanbul, and Dakar. In collaboration with artists, cultural activists and ISOE researchers, ISOE curator Daniela Swarowsky created as a starting point for each location a specific format or methodology, which developed either into the researcher-artist collaboration, or into workshops, debates, performances or symposia. The goal was to confront the themes of the ISOE project with discourses among artists and cultural producers in some of the sites of research. The exhibition shows materials from the pre-events in Alexandria, Dakar and Paris.