Textile Collaboration and Shared Memory at CHAT

Description

Tidal Weavers: Islands Exchange at CHAT centres on a cross-border artist exchange, connecting grassroots organisations, artists, weavers and communities from the region around the South China Sea. In this immersive project, participants engage in collaborative making, shared meals and daily routines, allowing friendships and creative exchanges to shape the artworks as profoundly as the materials themselves. Textile becomes a tactile archive, woven with personal histories and collective memory, while water is honoured as a connector and a witness to migration, labour and kinship.

This generative space prioritises slowness, listening and reciprocity, fostering long-term collaboration and mutual learning. The resulting ecology of motifs, rhythms, and stories arises from the specificity of place and the deep ties that bind people across islands and coasts. Under the artistic direction of Ade Darmawan, and with a wide range of artists and collectives involved, the exhibition offers an evolving reflection on the richness of craft, the importance of process and the enduring power of community.