Archipelago: Visions in Orbit

15 Aug 2024-5 Jan 2025

Overview

The archipelago is diffracted, fractal, necessary in its totality, fragile or contingent in its unity, passing through and remaining, it is a state of the world. — Édouard Glissant

Bringing together a diverse range of artists, perspectives and mediums, Archipelago: Visions in Orbit takes the physiology of an archipelago – a cluster of distinct but connected islands – as a metaphor to frame and relate seemingly disparate artistic positions. 

With society becoming increasingly fragmented, exacerbated by heightened global geo-political tensions, the exhibition proposes an ‘archipelagic’ approach, aimed at illuminating a shared cultural fabric, while at the same time allowing for complex differences. 

Through the enigmatic and ethereal works of Esther Teichmann (b. 1980, Germany) and Jakob Rowlinson (b. 1990, UK); portrayals of emergence and reflection in the paintings of Jade de Montserrat’s (b. 1981, UK) and sculptural reliefs of Cameron Ugbodu’s (b. 2000, Austria), alongside considerations of diasporic histories in the performance documentations of Daniella Valz Gen (b. Unlisted, Peru) and Güler Ateş (b. 1977, Turkey), the exhibition presents a constellation of contemporary myth-makers, dreamers and artistic documentarians. Through their collective and individual narrative imaginings, the artists explore themes of migration, belonging and connection.  

The exhibition speaks to, and of, the Gallery’s historic location in Whitechapel, East London, a place that has and continues to see the coming together of migrant communities in a time of political polarisation.  

 Archipelago: Visions in Orbit is an original exhibition curated by students from the MA Curating Art and Public Programmes course – a unique one-year professional placement qualification, organised in collaboration with London South Bank University (LSBU).    

The exhibition is accompanied by a public programme including performances and discursive events with artists and curators.  For more information, visit whitechapelgallery.org/events. 

Archipelago: Visions in Orbit is curated by Gözde Altun, Eve Barnes, Molly Clark, Maria Green, Parastoo Jafari, Hannah Lewis, Alessandro Morter, Kuba Ocean, Yasmin Riley, Angela Sanchez-Castrillon, Benjamin Sebastian, Ajahee Sekkm-Miles, Cosima Straub and Hannah Walker.