The article reviews the exhibition "The Earth, the Fire, the Water, and the Winds: For a Museum of Errantry with Édouard Glissant" at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA) in New York, the first U.S. showing of works from the personal collection of Martinician philosopher and writer Édouard Glissant. Curated from his archive, the exhibition features artists such as Roberto Matta, Wifredo Lam, Etel Adnan, Irving Petlin, Antonio Seguí, Öyvind Fahlström, Jack Whitten, and Mel Edwards, reflecting Glissant's friendships and intellectual exchanges across Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Highlights include Antonio Seguí's large pastel works from his Titanic series.
This exhibition matters because it presents Glissant's radical vision of a "museum-as-archipelago" — a non-hierarchical, responsive archive that rejects colonialist narratives, personality-driven art, and market values. Glissant's concept of "Creolisation" and his emphasis on opacity and provisional alliances offer a counter-narrative to Western art-world hierarchies, challenging institutions to rethink how they collect, display, and relate to art. The show underscores the enduring relevance of Glissant's decolonial thought for contemporary curatorial practice.