The world is an archipelago
An archipelago is where interdependence and difference coexist. The islands of an archipelago should "unite coastlines and bring horizons closer," as Édouard Glissant (1928–2011) said. For the philosopher and professor from Martinique, the archipelago is an expression of globality: the whole that produces differences capable of giving rise to the new, in opposition to globalization, which standardizes and dilutes. If the earth is rooted in water, as Heraclitus proposed, the ocean is one, in the singular. The lands and we (after all, we are humus – Homo) are archipelagos rooted in this sea. The ocean is the liquid knot that binds the parts. Utopia is precisely the search for the realization of this plural unity.
However, in modernity we act as if we were absolute, autonomous islands, both individually and within our continents. “It is not by isolating ourselves that we will combat the homogeneity of globalization,” Glissant stated. This way of life, disconnected from the interdependence of the world, leads us to a state of polycrisis (climate change, biodiversity loss, and wars), the inevitable consequence of which is shipwreck: a rupture that imposes individual and collective transformations leading to the emergence of a new state of being. What emerges after the shipwreck is a fertile combination of the living and the dead.
We, human beings, bear the marks of the ocean in our bodies, minds, and spirits: evolutionary, ecological, cultural, and historical. Our species has a history of attention and intimacy with the sea, which has always provided food, transportation, and culture. Modern science has greatly expanded our logical and rational capacity to anticipate future scenarios, but even in the face of the worst projections, modern society does not feel the risk and hesitates to change its polluting and degrading habits. Therefore, data and facts about the state of the ocean are not enough to inspire change. We need to feel, and the source of these feelings are our "inner oceans."
Are these oceanic “attitudes” voluntary? What if the ocean is capable of acting? Acting presupposes choosing and discerning, which is precisely what defines intelligence. Is the ocean intelligent? Like everything that is alive, the ocean possesses memory, attention, and anticipation: it is the memory of the origin of life and myths, it is attentive and reacts to the interference of human action, and it anticipates futures after shipwrecks.
The exhibition revolves around the themes of memory, attention, and anticipation, proposing a dialogue between human intelligence and oceanic intelligence. As Clarice Lispector explains, we are "concomitant beings," embodying the past, present, and future. Thus, the intention is not to address the themes linearly, but rather meanderingly, spiraling. This is achieved by combining readings and interpretations of modern science with ancestral narratives of origin, using art and technology. The expectation is to restore our relationship with the ocean, reminding us that we came from it, are made of it, and that we need to navigate it to give rise to new tomorrows. Therefore, the exhibition, more than teaching, makes us feel intimacy, respect, and familiarity with the ocean.
Fabio Scarano
Curator of Museu do Amanhã
