Édouard Glissant & Hans Ulrich Obrist

This notebook is a homage of the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist to the French author, poet, and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928-2011), who passed away this year. Glissant, one of the most influential figures of the French-speaking Caribbean and a pioneer of postcolonial thinking, called "attention to means of global exchange which do not homogenize culture but produce a difference from which new things can emerge". Obrist encountered Glissant at the beginning of his curatorial path, following a recommendation by Alighiero Boetti, then through his books, and later in person. In the introduction, Obrist creates a multilayered portrait of the intellectual, laying out some of his key concepts: the creolization of the world, "archipelic thought," and the museum as archipelago, as well as utopia. These ideas are expressed in a personal tone by Glissant in a selection of title pages of his books with drawings, notations and poetic dedications that are reproduced here in facsimile.Édouard Glissant (1928-2011) was a French writer, poet, and philosopher.Curator and critic Hans Ulrich Obrist (*1968) is Co-Director, Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London.