Curator and initiator Lea Altner guides through the exhibition.
Gods Moving in Places is a two-part exhibition exploring the political potential of the Caribbean and Guyanese imagination. It presents the memories, narratives and histories that have shaped this imagination – including indigenous mythologies and the violent conquest of the South American continent – through what Édouard Glissant (1928–2011) calls the tropical night and the spirits and figures that weigh on the shoulders.
Gods Moving in Places is inspired by the writings of the Caribbean author Wilson Harris, who, based on an indigenous worldview, developed an understanding of the world in which nature, humanity, flora and fauna all become part of the same being. He proposes that everything is connected by a collective unconscious, which can be unlocked through our creative imagination. According to Harris, admitting different orders of reality allows us to transform ourselves and our position within the world, thus unleashing the political potential of the imagination.