THINK ISLANDS: María Inés Rodríguez
This “Think Islands” lecture and interview features María Inés Rodríguez, an internationally renowned curator, founder of the digital platform Tropical Papers, and a committee member of CCA Islands.
Having served as a director and curator at leading art museums worldwide and contributed to numerous international biennials, Rodríguez reflects on the journey and underlying philosophy of Tropical Papers—the autonomous digital platform she founded twenty years ago and continues to direct.
Inspired by philosopher Édouard Glissant’s “archipelagic thinking,” she frames the “tropics” not as an exotic category, but as a historical and ecological condition.
Transcending physical borders, Tropical Papers has become a dynamic network/connections that continuously archives and amplifies the voices of artists, thinkers, and diasporic communities.
In this video, she examines how creators can claim their own spaces and invent system-independent formats to stay intellectually in motion (rester en mouvement).
“Sometimes, the most important outcome is not the final object, but the network of relationships generated through the process itself.”
Rather than avoiding complexity, Tropical Papers creates a space to engage with it collectively. Reflecting on a pivotal moment of political transition in her homeland, this profound lecture offers an essential blueprint for keeping diverse forms of knowledge in dialogue and motion, concluding with her deeply personal hopes for the future of Colombia. Video editing: Joris Dockx María Inés Rodríguez is an internationally renowned curator currently serving as Director of the Walter and Nicole Leblanc Foundation in Brussels.
In 2005, she founded Tropical Papers, an inclusive cultural forum dedicated to art and research in the tropics. Throughout her distinguished career, she has held leadership roles at major institutions including CAPC in Bordeaux, MASP in São Paulo, MUAC in Mexico City, and Jeu de Paume in Paris. She also serves as a guest advisor to the Rijksakademie (Amsterdam), continually shaping the future of global contemporary art.
María Inés Rodríguez Instagram / mariainesrodriguez_
Tropical Papers https://tropicalpapers.org/
Walter Lebranc Foundation https://www.walterleblanc.org/