Archipelago is a book designed to introduce Édouard Glissant, one of the most important philosophers of the twenty-first century, to a global audience.
Over fifteen years, Glissant reflected on his life and philosophy with his friend Hans Ulrich Obrist. This was something like an education and the foundation for Obrist's approach to curating. As one of today's most prolific producers of culture, Obrist has left an indelible mark and Glissant through him.
Obrist has long pursued Glissant's vision across museums and galleries, but—with the destruction of environments, extinction of languages, and the volatility of reality—he believes that Glissant's philosophy is necessary beyond academic and curatorial walls. Returning to the records of their encounter, Obrist edited, reworked, and arranged their conversations in their entirety for the first time and for a broad public audience. Archipelago is the result—enlightening us, as only Glissant can, as to how we might form an interdependent Earth. It is a ready-to-hand tool, ten years after Glissant's death, for building new politics, societies, and institutions—to be carried and shared.
216 pages, 7 x 10.8 cm, softcover, isolarii (New York).