A fraction of the Amazon lands in Barcelona. The natural, cultural, anthropological and social wealth of the largest tropical forest in the world comes to the Catalan capital with the exhibition Amazon. The ancestral future, which can be seen until May 4, 2025 at the Barcelona Contemporary Culture Center (CCCB).
More than a thousand square meters of the exhibition center will be occupied by a representation of the Amazon biodiversitywith the aim of offering a sensory journey through the immensity of the rivers and forests, through the sounds, smells, cities, rituals, people and life stories of the Amazonian communities. A journey through the genuine Amazon, today in conflict due to deforestation, fires, drought or fights for the control of raw materials, conflicts that the exhibition addresses with the help of the main scientists and researchers in the region.
The exhibition, curated by Claudi Carreras, has the collaboration of local experts such as Jõao Paulo Lima Barreto, philosopher, anthropologist and indigenous professor – ethnic group yepamahsa—; Eliane Brum, Brazilian journalist and documentary filmmaker; Emilio Fiagama, uitoto and head of this indigenous community in Florencia—in the Colombian Amazon—; Lilian Fraiji, Brazilian curator, producer and environmental activist; Valério Gomes, researcher and expert in sustainable development; Nelly Kuiru, founder and director of the School of Indigenous Communication of the Nimaira Macro Amazon; Eduardo Góes Neves, professor at the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo (Brazil); Daiara Tukano, visual artist, journalist and indigenous activist—ethnicity tukano—; Rember Yahuarcani, visual artist, curator and activist for the rights and respect of indigenous cosmologies and knowledge, and Joseph Zárate, Peruvian journalist and editor. The Bioacoustic Applications Laboratory of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the Ernesto Ventós Foundation and the VIST Foundation also participate in the project.
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Far from providing a folkloric or fatalistic vision of life in the Amazon, the exhibition defends the connection and deep knowledge that the Amazonian people have of nature and their ancestors. Amazon. The ancestral future It not only speaks of a valuable culture and ecosystem, but also challenges the visitor, pushes them to think about human beings as a society, about the fragility of the environment and the need, more urgent than ever, to recover more respectful ways of living. .
To this end, the sample is structured in four sections. In The message of the roots Recent research is presented that reveals that the region is the result of an intricate relationship between its inhabitants and nature. More than a virgin space, the Amazon is a large garden in which the interactions between living beings and spiritual beings are key since its creation and fundamental for its preservation.
A tree made of water condenses the almost 7,000 kilometers of the Amazon River into a sensitive journey: an itinerary through the sounds and music of the Amazon, its smells, the spirits that inhabit it and its languages and populations throughout history.
The consequences of colonialism are reflected in Ravenous bonanzas. This chapter covers the history of abusive extractivism that the Amazon has suffered, with photographic and audiovisual works, historical documents and interviews with testimonies and specialists.
Finally, We are a fabric rreveals how dreams and the use of plant hallucinogens play a fundamental role in the configuration of a natural order in the Amazon, at the same time that the concept of Western progress has moved away from the links that unite it with its ancestry and with nature. . The ecological situation is on the verge of collapse, but it is time to act, without utopian illusions.
With this approach, the exhibition invites attendees through newly created works, expressly commissioned from prominent indigenous artists and groups: from the murals painted in Barcelona by the MAHKU collective—Huni Kuin, Brazil—, to the pieces by Rember Yahuarcani— ethnicity uitotoPeru—, by the painter Kichwa Elías Mamallacta (Ecuador) and the works of Olinda Silvano and Cordelia Sánchez—ethnic groups shipibo and shipibo-koniboPeru—, to the photographs and audiovisual montages of the Colombian photojournalist Andrés Cardona or the artistic installation by Santiago Yahuarcani and Nereyda López —uitotosPeru-.
An exhibition with ‘extras’
Along with the exhibition, a set of public programs have been scheduled until the end of the year – talks, debates, workshops, courses and educational sessions – led by some of the exhibition’s protagonists and other specialists. And as usual at the CCCB, Amazon. The future ancestorIt also offers guided tours for educational centers—from 3rd grade to high school—during the entire duration of the exhibition.
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