COSTINAS, Cosmin; GUERRERO, Inti (eds.)
What to Let Go?

This book contributes to discussions about what counts as heritage now, who gets to do the counting, and broader related issues around the subject of cultural sovereignty. It unpacks historical narratives and political memories linked with objects, sites, and ceremonies that have been lost, looted, restituted, repatriated, revived, or reinvented. Through its diverse line-up of discourse, poetry, and original artistic contributions, it weaves together subjects and geographies that are not usually part of the same conversation —from plundered cultural belongings held in colonial collections, to processes of renaming or removing symbols of past eras— and considers how they relate in the context of recent social upheavals and political processes across continents. In our era of dangerous revisionism, when history has become a battlefield for both the left and the right, we are asking: How can art reconfigure our collective foundational myths? And of what should we let go on the journey towards figuring it out? [publishers’ note]

Contributions by Pio Abad, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Naman P. Ahuja, Radcliffe Bailey, Sandra Cisneros, Lia Colombino, Myrlande Constant, Cosmin Costinas, Tishani Doshi, Natasha Ginwala, Inti Guerrero, Sven Haakanson, Nikau Hindin, Hong Lysa, Dusadee Huntrakul, Taban Lo Liyong, Carol Yinghua Lu, Xiaoxuan Lu, Vali Mahlouji, Lee Maracle, Marian Pastor Roces, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Nget Rady, Maia Nuku, Pablo José Ramírez, Olinda Silvano, Frank Tang Kai Yiu, Cecilia Vicuña, Wang An-Shih, Bo Wang, Thongchai Winichakul, Yuk Hui, Frances Wadsworth Jones, Jenny Xie, Vivian Ziherl.

Published by Sternberg Press / Para Site, 2024
Design by Chris Wu & Ming Hsun Yu, Wkshps
Anthologies / Artists' Writings / Essays / Politics / Indigenous Peoples / Postcolonial Studies