Preface-Why Dual Solo?
Exhibitions in art institutions have long played a subtle yet profound role in what Media theorist Hans Enzensberger called the ‘consciousness industry,’ a system that shapes how we think and what we value. Stepping into an exhibition is often more than a visual experience—it’s a nudge, sometimes gentle, sometimes not, to reflect our place within the cultural, historical, and social narratives.
Carol Duncan, a feminist scholar in Museum Studies, insightfully describes the museum visit as a process of ‘enacting complex and often deep psychic dramas about identity, dramas that museums’ themselves often do not and cannot acknowledge.’ Though these institutions present themselves as neutral spaces, showcasing history, culture and art with a studied air of objectivity, they’re anything but passive. As visitors navigate the space, meaning and emotion swirl, inevitably raising questions of heritage, belonging, social status, race, and identity.
These moments of introspection go well beyond surface appreciation, feeding into the ongoing, sometimes messy process of identity formation. Yet too often, this engagement risks becoming constrained by singular perspectives or unexamined assumptions, highlighting the limitations of institutional narratives, which do not always capture the entirety of these experiences. That’s where Ripple Verse Gallery steps in—reimagining exhibitions with a comparative, cross-cultural approach through the idea of Dual Solo exhibitions.
What’s Dual Solo? Think curatorial matchmaking—pairing artists from different backgrounds under shared themes, not to rank them, but to explore the common threads and cultural distinctions, revealing recurring patterns that transcend cultural or situational boundaries, and challenge ethnocentric or single-context assumptions. Artistic exchange is nothing new: Asian silk influencing Renaissance textiles, African masks inspiring Cubism, or Islamic geometry shaping Gothic architecture, art has always thrived on cross-pollination.
But why Dual Solo? It’s not just about the politics of representation, rather, it’s about rethinking how we see. Inspired by Comparativism, which emphasises comparing cultures and ideas for deeper understanding, the approach moves beyond mere juxtaposition to spark fresh insights.
Comparativism laid the foundation for the global turn in the 1990s, a response to shifting geopolitical, economic and intellectual landscapes that challenged Eurocentric perspectives. The art world hasn’t been the same since. Feminist scholars like Linda Nochlin (Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? 1971), Griselda Pollock, and Lucy Lippard began to question the exclusionary nature of the Western canon, prompting major institutions to rethink how they frame non-European art—contextualizing it on its own terms, rather than labelling it ‘primitive’ or ‘ethnographic’. Having lived in the UK for seven years, I’ve seen how subtle, often invisible Eurocentric frameworks still shape perceptions—both within the West and in those subjected to its gaze.
Three decades after the global turn, some claim global networks are unravelling. We’re not buying it. If anything, geopolitical realignments demand fresh cultural dialogues. New art hubs in Seoul, Shanghai, Dubai, and Singapore challenge the dominance of New York, London, and Paris. Events like the Gwangju Biennale (South Korea) and Dak’Art (Senegal) spotlight non-Western voices. Contemporary artists such as El Anatsui, Ai Weiwei, and Shirin Neshat continue to reshape art history from non-European perspectives.
What began as a call for inclusivity has evolved into a deeper intellectual pursuit—what Kwame Appiah champions as cosmopolitan curiosity: an openness to diverse cultural perspectives that dismantles rigid thinking.
And yes, while market potential is thrilling, we’re not just in this for the next blue-chip sensation. We’re driven by curiosity, a love for art that speaks, the conviction that meaningful engagement with diverse creative expressions can spark an inquiry that transcends borders, enriching our understanding of creativity, emotion, and the human experience.
Na An
Feb 10 2025
