The Archipelagic Imagination: Seaport

Almine Rech Shanghai is pleased to present The Archipelagic Imagination: Seaport, the first chapter of a two-part group exhibition curated by Zong Han, features works by Kawayan de Guia, Davy Linggar, Tia-Thuy Nguyen, Sylvia Ong, Citra Sasmita, and Jakkai Siributr. Upland, the second chapter at Bao Room by Bao Foundation features works by I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, Nona Garcia, Kawayan de Guia, Tia-Thuy Nguyen, Jakkai Siributr, and Thu-Van Tran.

“The unity is not that of a single root, but that of a network of branches.”
— Édouard Glissant

Departing from Glissant’s notion of archipelagic thinking—which privileges relation over root, opacity over transparency, and networks over hierarchies—this exhibition reimagines Southeast Asia not as a fixed region, but as an unfolding matrix of routes, fragments, and entangled affiliations. In this vision, the archipelago is not merely metaphor, but historical infrastructure: a living network of seaports, river deltas, and inland uplands that have long shaped the movement of people, images, and ideas across what is often reductively called “the South.”

Shanghai, as both a historic and symbolic node in this geography, becomes a point of departure. Located on the Bund—once a treaty port linking China to Southeast Asia through maritime trade, migration, and imperial encounters—Almine Rech’s gallery space serves as the staging ground for Seaport. This chapter centers outward-facing works charged with formal clarity, visual urgency, and mythic reconstruction.

The exhibition continues at Bao Room by Bao Foundation, a penthouse space nestled within the former French Concession. Sitting atop the city’s colonial strata, the site becomes both literal and symbolic upland—a conceptual and spatial counterpoint to Seaport. Here, in The Archipelagic Imagination: Upland, the exhibition turns inland: toward sedimented memory, embodied histories, and spiritual terrains that resist visibility yet pulse with presence.

Together, Seaport and Upland trace a conceptual and geographic dyad: one public, the other intimate; one attuned to surfaces and crossings, the other to depth and duration. From maritime edges to inland elevations, from visible flows to buried roots, the exhibition maps an archipelagic imagination that cuts across inherited definitions of region, identity, and cultural direction—gesturing toward a South assembled not by borders, but by relation.

阿尔敏·莱希 - 上海荣幸呈现群展《群岛想象：海港》（The Archipelagic Imagination: Seaport）。作为由Zong Han策展的双篇章群展的第一部分，汇聚了根植于东南亚及其全球离散语境中的多样艺术立场，呈现的艺术家们包括：卡瓦彦·德·居亚、戴维·林加尔、Tia-Thuy Nguyen、王素梅、西特拉·萨斯米塔与贾凯·斯里布特。展览的第二篇章《高地》（Upland）同期于真宝艺术空间（Bao Room by Bao Foundation）呈现，展出的艺术家们包括：伊·古斯提·阿育·卡德可·穆妮阿绪、诺娜·加西亚、卡瓦彦·德·居亚、Tia-Thuy Nguyen、贾凯·斯里布特与陈凡秋。

“统一并非来自单一的根，而是一张枝干交织的网络。”—— 爱德华·格里桑（Édouard Glissant）

本展览以格里桑提出的“群岛思维”（archipelagic thinking）为理论起点——一种强调关系胜于根源、模糊胜于透明 、网络胜于等级的思维结构。在这一框架下，东南亚不再被视为一个静止的地理区域，而是一张不断延伸的动态感知网络，由路径、碎片与交错关系织构而成。群岛在此不仅是隐喻，更是一种真实的历史性基础设施：由海港、河口与内陆高地构成的生命系统，长期塑造着被简化为“南方”的人群、图像与思想的流动轨迹。

在这张流动的网络中，上海既是历史节点，也是象征性的出发点。 展览选址外滩，曾为条约港口的此地，见证了中国与东南亚间通过航运、移民与帝国互动而建立的联结。阿尔敏·莱希画廊的上海空间成为“海港”这一篇章的策展现场，聚焦那些视觉张力鲜明、形式语言果敢，并对神话与历史进行重构的外向型艺术实践。

展览的第二篇章《群岛想象：高地》（The Archipelagic Imagination: Upland）同期于真宝艺术空间（Bao Room by Bao Foundation）呈现。空间位于衡复历史风貌区的一处顶层公寓，既是地理上的高地，也构成“海港”的象征性对位。在这里，展览由海洋边缘转向内陆，由“到达”转向“回返”——走入沉积的记忆、具身的历史与难以言表却恒久在场的精神地貌。

“海港”与“高地”共同构成一组概念与地理上的对照结构：一者向外开放，具公共性与流动性；一者内向沉潜，具亲密性与厚度感。它们之间的张力，连接着海岸与内陆，从可见的路径延伸至掩瞒的根系，勾勒出一种穿越“东南亚”既定标签的群岛式想象。在此，被唤起的不是边界，而是关系本身。