HANGZHOU, CHINA – The 5th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art opened in September 2025. Curated by Jiang Jun, Huang Yan, Assadour Markarov, and Xu Jia, and Shi Hui as Director. This edition adopted “Re-Constellations” as its core theme, bringing together 45 outstanding artists from 17 countries and regions. In Hangzhou—a city historically known as a silk capital—these artists collectively wove a new cultural firmament through the medium of fiber art. The exhibition explores the cultural ascendancy of the “Global South” and speculates on the future of contemporary art against the backdrop of receding globalization and shifting values.
“Re-Constellations” draws on an ancient metaphor shared across civilizations: the starry sky as a fabric woven with warps and wefts. Different cultures have interpreted the cosmos in distinct ways, shaping unique worldviews: the ancient Greeks saw a hunter in Orion; Sumerians recognized a “Bull of Heaven”; ancient Egyptians viewed it as a “Soul Guide”; while the Chinese system of “Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions” linked celestial bodies to terrestrial bureaucracy, embodying the ideal of “harmony between heaven and humanity.” However, with the rise of modernity—particularly after the International Astronomical Union standardized constellations based on Greek tradition in 1930—many non-Western cosmologies were systematically marginalized and faded from mainstream awareness.
The triennial’s central aim is to challenge this singular “universal narrative.” Moving beyond astronomy, the curators reposition “Re-Constellations” as a metaphor for cognitive revolution—not only deconstructing and reorganizing established art-historical “constellations” but also awakening the “cultural stars” of the Global South, transforming them from “obscured dark stars” into “self-luminous celestial bodies.” In an era of counter-globalization and fractured narratives, the exhibition encourages visitors, like stargazers of old, to discover connections amid difference and build bridges across divides.
The curatorial framework critically engages with Walter Benjamin’s concept of “constellation” and Aby Warburg’s “decentralized” iconology. Within the exhibition, the Atlas of Re-Constellations serves as a parallel visual-theoretical field. Adopting Warburg’s method of juxtaposition, it links artists’ works with images from across the globe. Yet, unlike Warburg’s Eurocentric plates, this atlas refuses to treat non-Western cultures as “specimens of the Other.” Instead, it employs the diverse cosmologies of the Global South as an independent coordinate system, allowing stellar symbols from various civilizations to resonate in a “decentralized” network of meaning.
As curator Jiang Jun emphasized, the exhibition goes beyond postcolonial critique by anchoring artistic practice in the real political and economic processes of the Global South. It is not merely an art event but a cultural manifesto asserting that true cognitive liberation requires grounding in geopolitical and economic transformation.
As the core archival installation of the triennial, the Atlas of Re-Constellations functions as a visual database parallel to the exhibited artworks. It draws inspiration from Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas while fundamentally rejecting its underlying Eurocentrism and colonial perspective. Using fiber art as its foundation, the atlas constructs a tangible “cosmos of images” where each artist acts as an independent star, and their works carry cultural codes like cosmic particles, transcending temporal and spatial boundaries.
The “archival panels” play a key role as cognitive “dark matter” and hyperlink nodes—not as dividers but as connectors. Artists are regrouped into “stellar systems” of one to five individuals, each forming a self-contained “conceptual constellation.” Guided by a “good neighbor” methodology that rejects hierarchy, diverse cultural expressions enter into constellational dialogue. This structure not only deconstructs canonical art history but also elevates marginalized Global Southern narratives from “silent dark stars” to active, luminous entities. Within the soft texture of fiber, visual symbols from multiple civilizations co-create a starmap that transcends East-West binaries.
This triennial brought together outstanding artists from across the globe. The international cohort featured artists such as Kimsooja (South Korea), Anne Wilson (USA), Ibrahim Mahama (Ghana), Manal AlDowayan (Saudi Arabia), Lucy + Jorge Orta (UK), Choi + Shine (USA), Aziza Kadyri (Russia), Cho Sohee (South Korea), Diana Scherer (Germany), Ei Arakawa (Japan), Gergana Tabakova (Bulgaria), Julien Creuzet (France), Kari Dyrdal (Norway), Kate Egan (UK), Leonardo Chiachio & Daniel Giannone (Argentina), Leonardo Ulian (Italy), Leyla Cárdenas (Colombia), Mariel Clarmont (France), Patricia Perez Eustaquio (Philippines), Solveig Aalberg (Norway), and Suki Seokyeong Kang (South Korea). They were joined by leading Chinese artists including Ding Yi, Li Qing, Wang Xiaosong, Lam Lan (Hong Kong, China), Chen Ruofan, Chen Zhihao, Chan Lai Kwan Cloud (Hong Kong, China), Gao Ruyun, Guo Ruiwen, He Qiru, Li Junyu & Guo Jianping, Li Na, Liu Jiachen, Mao Yu, Sun Yiyun, Wang Shanyu, Xu Ge, Xu Xiangzhen, Ying Xinxun, and Yang An.
A standout commissioned work is Choi+Shine’s large-scale lace installation, which exemplifies the exhibition's spirit of collective re-imagination. The artists worked with more than 180 local residents in 6 monthes to finish this master artwork. Throughout the galleries, the installation interacts like dynamic “conceptual constellations,” where each “fiber star” from the Global South illuminates others through mutual radiance.
Together, these works weave a new celestial chart over Hangzhou—a visual manifesto of Global Southern cultural autonomy, and a spiritual totem guiding toward a pluriversal future, using fiber as a vessel to navigate an age of civilizational transition.
