The ties that bind

ARCHIPEL Secret kicked off the three month-long Singapore Festival in France. With some 40 works exhibited cheek-by-jowl, it's the biggest contemporary art show by South-east Asian artists at Palais de Tokyo, the acclaimed contemporary art centre.

Demonstrating everything from past ancient links to current issues, and inserting personal narratives into the larger sociopolitical landscape, South-east Asian artists put their own spin on cultural identity. A co-production between Palais de Tokyo and National Heritage Board Singapore, Archipel Secret (or Secret Archipelago in English) is an exhibition presented in a manner befitting its guerilla-like underground space at the Palais.

The idea behind Archipel Secret is to show the links between the South-east Asian countries, beyond official borders. There is a shared heritage in terms of identity, food, language and so on, says Khairuddin Hori, Palais de Tokyo's deputy director for Artistic Programming, who curated the show. "This brings us back to the idea of South-east Asia as one territory, with all…