The Asia Culture Center (ACC) has been presenting a new vision for the future by examining Asia’s histories and cultures through artistic practices within the global context. With growing interest in ASEAN countries and their expanding role in the global arena alongside Korea, China and Japan, new definitions of community and new hopes of solidarity are possible for Asia in the 21st century. In this context, the Asia Culture Center presents a special international exhibition Solidarity Spores, which explores dynamic traces left by artistic practices by touching on the themes of the “Non-Aligned Movement,” “community” and “solidarity.” The exhibition sheds new light on the history of the Non-Aligned Movement and the accompanying cultural and artistic practices; in doing so, it asks how the spirit of solidarity can liberate us from division and conflict resulting from neoliberal globalization. Through visual manifestations of historical time and space that younger generations have not experienced before, artistic practices featured in the exhibition instill hopes and possibilities for a new world order, equality and communal history.

Solidarity Spores does not speak on behalf of a particular historical or political stance. The relationship between the Non-Aligned Movement and artistic practices has spurred the growth of cultural output without attaching political strings. Through the exhibition, we seek to identify how this relationship led to cultural solidarity, adaptations in artistic practices, and changes in our perceptions. Used as a metaphorical reference to resistance and solidarity, the titular word “spore” is an acknowledgement to the No Containment. MSSA, the museum as spore (No-contención. MSSA, el museo como espora), a project featured at the Chilean Museum of Solidarity Salvador Allende (MSSA, Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende). The MSSA opened its doors for the citizens of Chile in the early 1970s with donations of works from artists around the world. Since then, it has embodied the spirit of solidarity as a “spore” that revitalizes and spreads the movement through cultural expressions that transcend time and space. The exhibition Solidarity Spores seeks to expand the concept of solidarity to include flexible and sustainable artistic practices of today.

Solidarity Spores is spearheaded by six curators or teams including  Bojana Piškur; Vali Mahlouji/Archaeology of the Final Decade; Seonghee Kim; Sulki and Min / Tetsuya Goto; Dongjin Seo; and Sungwon Kim. Addressing the Non-Aligned Movement from a cultural and artistic viewpoint, Bojana Piškur’s Southern Constellations: The Poetics of the Non-Aligned, Gwangju Station focuses on the cultural solidarity between the Eastern European and Asian coun-tries. Vali Mahlouji / Archaeology of the Final Decade’s archival work A Utopian Stage: Festival of Arts, Shiraz-Persepolis recreates the most experimental and unique art festival of the 1960s and 1970s that juxtaposes the traditional and the avant-garde. Naeem Mohaiemen’s Two Meetings and a Funeral and Hyun-Suk Seo’s The Age of Future probe the idea of the Third World project, searching for tensions, discords and divisions that stem from neoliberal globalization. The Interdisciplinary Arts Project brings together Asia’s traditions, politics, and cultures of today with implications for the post-globalization era through these works: the sound installations of Kick the Machine Documentary Collective, led by  Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Ho Rui An’s performance; and the collaboration between Eka Kurniawan and Bek Hyunjin. Common Interests: Conversation of Young East Asian Graphic Designers features thirteen individuals or teams of graphic designers while Solidarity in Everyday Life: Simple Suggestions from the Next Generation of Artists presents twelve of the next generation Korean artists. The “spores” of their imagination show the flexible and easygoing kind of solidarity applicable for everyday life in the “here and now” as well as for the future. This exhibition made possible the Non-Aligned Reader, the first publication of its kind in Asia that provides insight into the movement. An in-depth look at the publication will be made through a public lecture series, Solidarity School, to analyze the history of the Non-Aligned Movement and its current and future implications for Asia.