Inter-island Festival 2026:
ArchipelaGO!GO!
Curatorial Note
It’s taken us three editions to finally articulate what the Inter-island Festival (IIF) is all about. In the first and second editions, we circled it, like an eddy circles a stone. Now, we’re ready to name it, loud and proud.
The first Festival in 2021 was inspired by our muse: the Inter-islands Ferry, shuttling tirelessly between Cheung Chau, Peng Chau, and Lantau’s ports of Mui Wo and Chi Ma Wan. We were in awe of this hyper-local gem, and the connections and insular way of life it sustains. By the second edition in 2023, the Festival team had coined a name for the waters this ferry plies: the Inter-island Sea. We looked for projects that explored the sea as a connector, rather than a barrier, between islands along this route.
From there, it was only a short leap to a self-evident fact: we live in a rich and vibrant archipelago.
Yes, yes, anyone looking at a map can see that these islands form an archipelago! After all, Hong Kong itself is a cluster of more than 200 islands and peninsulas. But while that may be empirically true, it doesn’t always feel true in terms of mental maps and lived experience. Cheung Chau, Peng Chau, and Lantau (and Lamma too) are officially known as ‘outlying’ islands—a periphery away from the centre. But for those of us who live here, these islands are the centre. The sea we share is the centre. We know both self-reliance and interdependence; we value both urban convenience and the pleasure of living well with our neighbours—be they people, buffalo, turtles, mushrooms, or trees.
Our islands were connected by trade long before Hong Kong Island and Kowloon grew from scattered fishing villages into the city’s urban centre. Peng Chau processed materials, Lantau farmed, Cheung Chau sold and bartered. The earliest Inter-islands Ferry routes scooped up passengers from Peng Chau, Lantau, Cheung Chau, and Lamma like a net, carrying them into the city and back again.
Today, the route is shorter, but the connections remain. We know Peng Chau-ers who do physio on Cheung Chau and take their pets to the vet in Mui Wo; Mui Wo-ers who send their kids to Peng Chau kindergartens and commute to Cheung Chau for work; Cheung Chau-ers who hike the Chi Ma Wan Peninsula and sell fish at the Mui Wo market. Residents cross the sea to find love, visit family, see friends, shop, hike, farm, paddle, take care—alongside a constant flow of seafood, produce, traditions, legends, and creatures.
Making ArchipelaGO!GO! (羣島共生, literally ‘living together as an archipelago’) the theme of the 2026 Festival is our way of bringing these relationships to the fore. As curators, we’re asking: What does it mean to live both separate as a community and whole as an island, or separate as an island and whole as an archipelago? What does the sea think of the islands, if the sea thinks at all? And how might what we know about networked living across our little archipelago extend to nearby islands, to Hong Kong at large, and beyond—to culture, nature, other species, or other times?
Perhaps the sea can teach us the flexibility and fluidity needed to create and nourish these relationships. Beneath its calm surface, perpetual currents of change churn through a singular, formidable, resilient, and expansive ecosystem of beings.
To keep things focused, we asked our collaborators to zero in on two specific currents of inquiry. ‘Inter-island Mythologies’ dips into the flow of deities, spirits, ancestors, and tales that shape and protect this archipelago. ‘Tidal Beings’ turns to say hello to the tangible creatures who live on, around, and under the sea—be they fisherfolk, oyster shells, or cuttlefish. We want to know what these beings, stories, and relationships tell us about everyday life across the islands.
So, what does ‘living together as an archipelago’ look like in 2026?
The 2026 Festival remains rooted in an island perspective, with island residents at the heart of its organising team, collaborations, and audience.
This year, we’re introducing a new Weekly Spotlight, with each of the four ports taking centre stage for one weekend. That allows us to honour what makes each port special even as we explore what makes us one. More practically, that allows you to take your time and immerse yourself in what each place has to offer.
We’ve done our level-best to develop the programme from the bottom up, working with neighbours to share what’s joyful about the ways we live, work, and connect across the islands.
Six months before the Festival, we paired three researchers with local island creatives to develop new, research-led creative works: an island literature scholar with a dancer, wood-worker, and bamboo artist; a marine paleobiologist with two ceramic artisans; a climate change NGO with a visual artist and a DIYer. This period of incubation will yield three Feature Projects, offering new perspectives on the archipelago while experimenting with the alchemy of collaboration.
In summer, we put out an open call for smaller projects by island residents and island lovers alike. From the overwhelming response, more than 50 were selected: 20+ Micro Projects (funded by the Festival) and 20+ Satellite Projects (supported in-kind by the Festival). Together, they invite audiences to discover both the familiar and overlooked: Tin Hau, Lo Ting, Ghost Kings, and mermaids; buffalo and birds; soil and sound; balconies and coastlines; migration and refugees; little-known chapters of island history; and the curious textures of everyday life. Alongside these, local businesses will offer special activities, services, and discounts inspired by the Festival.
However you choose to join the festivities, we invite you to fully embrace the feeling of ArchipelaGO!GO!, and all its possible connotations. ‘GO!GO!’ is the music genre in which wild, funky rhythms and live audience participation are essential to the sound. It’s the party-going hype-dancer, who gets the celebration of being alive going. It’s the imperative ‘Get going!’—across the sea to connect with your neighbours. But, most of all, ‘GO!GO!’ is the spirit of ‘Add oil!’ or ‘Keep on keeping on’—an encouragement to keep the unique cultures, flora, and fauna of the inter-island region thriving, both individually as islands and together as an archipelago…even if sometimes that means just sitting still.
See you on the ferry—and on the island shores!
