Mangalanayagam works across photography and moving image to address diasporic experiences and postcolonial histories, while Bergqvist draws on oral traditions to explore themes of separation, enforced transformation, and survival. In this project, the artists collaborate with The Whale, a transnational choir of Swedish adoptees. Led by conductor David Juan Andersson, the choir draws on its members’ diverse personal experiences, treating sound as a vessel for memory, dialogue, and connection across histories and geographies. The choir’s name traces back to a blue whale calf killed and taxidermied in 1865, to which the choir first performed at the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History in spring 2025—linking their own positions and stories to this embodiment of colonial displacement.
At the core of the work is a sound installation capturing the choir’s collective humming of an 18th-century musical score. Drawn from the research of Swedish historian Fredrik Thomasson, the score relates to Sweden’s colonial presence in Saint Barthélemy—a largely overlooked chapter of Swedish history that forms part of Mangalanayagam’s ongoing research. Each speaker in the installation transmits the isolated hum of an individual choir member; as these voices overlap and respond to one another, they gradually blend into a shared resonance. Through this call-and-response structure, an unspoken conversation emerges, allowing non-verbal sounds, unconscious memories, and forgotten melodies to surface, touching on themes of belonging and the unseen wounds of adoption.
In a collective act of remembrance, this work intertwines human and non-human histories to question the boundaries and hierarchies produced and sustained by this dualism, while performing Sweden’s early colonial history and reflecting on its contemporary legacies.
The exhibition is organized by Curatorial Assistant Li Fangwen at the Aranya Art Center.
Co-commissioned in partnership with Colomboscope 2026.
The exhibition is supported by the Embassy of Sweden in China.
Ding Yi
Three Flags
2023
Flag, air blower
Dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Chen Ruofan
Botanical Bank: 54 Objects Transplanted
2023
Stainless steel, LED, video
400 × 400 × 400 cm
55:92 min.
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Tom Friedman
Hazmat Love
2017
Stainless steel
150.5 × 118.1 × 107.3 cm
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of the artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong,
Seoul, London and aranya plein air art project
Robert Mapplethorpe
Self Portrait
1981
Silver gelatin print
58.5 × 61 × 3.2 cm (framed)
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.
Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul
Richard Long
Four Ways
2014
Delabole Slate from Cornwall
490 × 498 × 58 cm
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi© Richard Long
Courtesy of Lisson Gallery and aranya plein air art project
Prinz Gholam
Stone Faces (Jin Shan Ling)
2023
Stone
Dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
David Zink Yi
Washingtonia
2017
Stainless steel
520 × 100 × 100 cm each
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of the artist, KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin / Seoul
and aranya plein air art project
Haegue Yang
Migratory DMZ Birds on Asymmetric Lens - Duiitt Duiitt Vessel (Gray-Backed Thrush)
2020
Soapstone, 3D printed resin
158 × 89 × 147 cm
Installation view, aranya plein art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
and aranya plein air art project
Charles Ray
School Play
2014
Painted fiberglass
193 × 58 × 39 cm
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
© Charles Ray
Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery and aranya plein air art project
Alina Chaiderov
Phoenix
2023
Stainless steel, cable protection tube
512 × 300 × 100 cm
Produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Liang Shuo
Little House
2023
Mosaic tiles
Dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Vivian Suter
Untitled
Undated
Mixed media on canvas
Dimensions variable
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery
and aranya plein air art project
Christine Sun Kim
A Permanent Tourist In A Foreign Language
2023
Inkjet printing on stainless-steel sign post
225 × 150 cm × 7 parts
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Sylvie Fleury
Giant Mushroom
2008
Fiberglass, metallic car paint
260 × 250 × 250 cm
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of the artist, Almine Rech
and aranya plein air art project
Nabuqi
We
2023
3D printing resin, paint
235 × 146 × 75 cm
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun ShiCourtesy of aranya plein air art project
Katinka Bock
Parasite Fountain
2019
Bronze, transparent PVC tube, water pump
Fish: 85 cm
Column: 300 × 30 cm
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Michelle Wang Yiyi
Red Berries
2023
Hawthorn berry, aluminum wire
Dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Zaiye Studio
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Chen Xiaoyi
Invisible Liquid
2023
UV print on aluminum plate
Dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Tony Cragg
Accurate Figure
2011
Carrara Marble
206 × 83 × 91 cm
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Isabelle Cornaro
Untitled (column #2 & column #3)
2014
Steel structure with black resin castings
66 × 274 × 66 cm each
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
Su Chang
Intersect
2023
Plaster, aluminate, hemp and other mixed materials
Dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by aranya plein air art project 2023
Installation view, aranya plein air art project
July 7th to October 29th, 2023
Photography Sun Shi
Courtesy of aranya plein air art project
