Hans Ulrich Obrist: Édouard Glissant for Exhibition-Making in the 21st Century

Hans Ulrich Obrist Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London Édouard Glissant for Exhibition-Making in the 21st Century Glissant’s philosophy of "Relation" is rooted in the history and the geography of the Antilles archipelago. Through constant exchanges from one island to another, the archipelago has provided the matrix for creolisation, a process of continual fusion that does not cause the loss of cultural and linguistic diversity, but enriches it through hybridisation. The most tangible outcome to emerge from this context is creole languages, resulting from miscegenation and osmosis between vernaculars. While continental thinking relies on systems, and claims the absoluteness of its own worldview, archipelagic thinking recognises and furthers the world’s diversity. Glissant realised early on the dangers of globalisation, the homogenising engine behind the disappearance of cultural, linguistic and ecological diversity, as well as the dangers of the populist counter-current to globalisation, namely new forms of nationalism and localism that refuse solidarity. To resist globalisation without denying globality, he coined the notion of "Mondialité" as a plea for a continuous worldwide dialogue that equally encouraged the mixing of cultures and celebration of local identities. Obrist’s curatorial projects are directly inspired by this concept of "Mondialité" as a perpetual process of relating. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Keynote anlässlich der Tagung: 150 Years After Der Erste Kunstwissenschaftliche Congress 1873, die Wiener Weltausstellung und die Museen Eine Kooperation der Universität Wien, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Professur Islamische Kunstgeschichte und des MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst Fr, 6.10.2023 MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst https://www.mak.at/150yearsafter