From Postcolonialism to Technodiversity: On a Materiality-Based Curatorial Ethics
Jianru Wu
This paper was originally presented at the symposium 'Radical Terroir: Southern Narratives and Art Writing,' co-organized by Fudan University, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and the International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC) in August 2025. The essay is scheduled for inclusion in the conference anthology, to be published by Shanghai People's Publishing House in 2026. The paper is published in Chinese, English version was translated by the author.
Abstract
The cultural and power structures of the twenty-first century present a core paradox: on the one hand, there is the accelerated digitization and networking of the globe; on the other, the material foundations that underpin this very system are becoming more and more salient. The recent “elemental” turn in media studies confronts this reality directly. It urges us to examine in depth the minerals, energy, and infrastructures that constitute media technologies, and to investigate how these material substrates shape our conditions of existence. Under these technologically and ecologically driven conditions, established critical theoretical frameworks are facing profound challenges. Since the 1990s, critical frameworks epitomized by postcolonial theory have offered powerful conceptual tools for the discourse of global biennials, effectively revealing dynamics of power and representation within geopolitics. Yet in the face of today’s novel power networks—woven from algorithmic governance, planetary-scale computation, and complex supply chains—this framework, which relies on historical and geographical divisions, has become increasingly inadequate. It even risks inadvertently homogenizing the diverse and heterogeneous realities that are subsumed under the name “the Global South.”
This paper therefore proposes a materiality-based curatorial ethics. Centered on situatedness and technodiversity, this ethics strives to move beyond the positioning of “the Global South” as a passive “Other” within postcolonial discourse, and reconceptualizes it as a subject capable of generating its own technological practices and worldviews. The paper revolves around the following core questions: In an era defined by artificial intelligence, ecological crisis, and space exploration, how should curatorial thought and methodology evolve? How can artistic practice respond to this profound transformation and thereby open up new political and aesthetic possibilities? Through the analysis of specific philosophical trajectories and artistic case studies, the paper argues that a curatorial approach attentive to materiality and its constitutive contexts and situatedness is a key path toward a future of technodiversity.
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