Opening in the year that marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence, Imagining an Archipelago is a group exhibition that explores how the principles named in that founding document have borne out in territories still subject to US rule. The exhibition amplifies the voices of more than thirty artists and collaborative groups from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, to express a solidarity born of their shared experiences, rendering a fresh understanding of democracy.

Although Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico are many miles apart, they share an identity as former colonies of Spain that were ceded to the United States in 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War. Three became US territories, while a US-controlled military government was temporarily established in Cuba. Imagining an Archipelago endeavors to cast light on how artistic networks can emerge under conditions of subjugation and how even the most intimate experiences of place conveyed by touch, taste, vision, sound, and smell can be complicated by imperialism.