Xingu Encounter

This project builds on a large body of research that has explored the value of cultural exchange between indigenous and non-indigenous cultures, models for equitable and ethical forms of exchange, and how research can contribute both to the preservation of indigenous knowledge and culture, and to sustainable socio-economic development for indigenous people in Brazil and beyond. Over four years HERITAGE and AIKAX have engaged a broad range of collaborators from creative and cultural professions in the UK and Brazil, and academics from a diverse range of disciplines, with indigenous researchers and artists.

This follow-on proposal responds to the need to defend indigenous knowledge, cultures and territories in a context of increasing political and environmental threats, in Brazil and worldwide. The particular catalyst was the discovery of deliberate vandalism of a sacred site where mythical stories of the ancestors of Waujá and Kuikuro people living in the Xingu region were recorded through rock carvings. Using digital technologies to create a 3D physical reproduction of the original cave with its ancient images, alongside an exhibition documenting the shocking destruction of the carvings in 2018 and offering interpretative material to support audiences in engaging with the significance of the cultural artefacts to the Kuikuro and Waujá people, Factum Arte/ Factum Foundation will produce a high-profile installation in central Venice for one month during the 2019 Biennale. This artistic and technological statement aims at a real-world impact: responding to the urgent need to raise awareness of the risks to of indigenous peoples, whilst disseminating new means to preserve and provide non-harmful access to indigenous cultures.

Simon McBurney and theatre company Complicite will partner to produce a two day international forum 'Encounter' which frames the threats to indigenous people and ways of life as a critical contemporary issue for the global community. 15 indigenous and 15 non-indigenous guests will be invited to attend, coming together to address the challenges faced by the erasure of indigenous peoples' environment and heritage. They will discuss how we can respond to the specific needs identified by the indigenous partners for increased public exposure to, and stakeholder engagement with, the key findings of the research in an equitable and ethical way.

While the events are being produced by generous contributions from partners Factum and Complicite, this application will enable Paul Heritage and four Brazilian indigenous speakers, artists, legal and political activists/advocates to travel for a week to participate in these events in Venice, bringing the results of the previous research work to global attention (up to and bringing international press attention to the fragility of indigenous cultural heritage and the methods that the collaborative team is developing to help indigenous communities protect it.

The United Nations Millennium goals recognised the vital role of indigenous culture and communities in protecting the environment, preventing deforestation, preserving bio-diversity and combating climate change. Yet Brazil is entering a new phrase where indigenous communities are increasingly under attack from environmental change, the encroachment of destructive intensive farming methods, short-term commercial exploitation and global geopolitical pressures that bring into question their very existence. This Follow-on project connects with wider discussions about the value of arts and culture in preserving knowledge relevant to contemporary geo-political and social debates. It mobilises AHRC-funded research and disseminates it to a broad public, demanding that audiences pay attention, to the problems, to the solutions and to the innovative methodologies and technologies at our fingertips that can contribute to creating a more just and sustainable world.

'Xingu Encounter: Venice' seeks to harness a body of research which has engaged a diverse range of academic, non-academic and indigenous peoples, to impact on the ways in which audiences understand the potential of exchange between indigenous and non-indigenous communities and the possibilities of innovative and immersive technologies in the ethical conservation and preservation of cultures; and to raise awareness of the contemporary challenges faced by indigenous communities in Brazil and beyond.

Through presenting this research in Venice, coinciding with the 2019 Biennale, this proposal will ensure that AHRC-funded research is disseminated to new audiences and is at the forefront of debates about the place of art in contemporary social and geopolitical debates.

This research has already had demonstrable benefits for the range of collaborators involved, and specifically the Kuikuro people of Brazil's Xingu region. Using innovative and immersive technologies, the Kuikuro have been able to document and preserve elements of their material and non-material culture which are being destroyed by intensive non-indigenous contact; they have been able to grant access to sites beyond the reach of the general public, in ways that preserve and protect indigenous sites at risk of destruction by the environmental and cultural impacts of intensive non-indigenous human contact. In addition, this body of research has explored how indigenous peoples in Brazil can develop an equitable and ethical paradigm for cultural exchange with non-indigenous societies, and the Kuikuro have now hosted a total of three residencies for a range of Brazilian and international participants which actively stimulate economic development and welfare in ways that have not been destructive to their environment, culture and language.

In response to recent political shifts in Brazil, which place indigenous communities in an ever more vulnerable position, the Kuikuro have identified the need to disseminate the findings of this body of research to larger international audiences. Responding to this urgent plea Factum Foundation has offered to undertake its specialist work to develop a 3D model of the caves, before and after vandalism, as well as to sponsor a site for the installation in Venice, coinciding with the 2019 Biennale. Alongside the exhibit, this follow-on fund will support the participation of HERITAGE and four indigenous speakers from across Brazil at a two day forum produced by Complicite Theatre company for up to 30 high-profile stakeholders, which will mobilise the influence of the attendees and identify a series of next steps for furthering AIKAX's mission.

'Xingu Encounter: Venice' situates the Kuikuro people on an international platform and demands that audiences at the Venice Biennale take notice of what an equitable exchange looks like - the benefits, solutions and opportunities offered by cultural exchange - and the potential of new technologies in the preservation and ethical conservation of vulnerable sites.

Mobilising AHRC funded research, this project demands that a broad and diverse public take notice of the challenges faced by indigenous communities, and the destruction of their cultures, environments and customs more generally. Significantly, it is not only the Kuikuro people, indigenous communities more generally, or associated partners, researchers and audiences that will benefit from dissemination of this research. As an indigenous representative from the Guarani community in Brazil recently said: 'if indigenous peoples become extinct and dead, the lives of all are threatened, for we are the guardians of nature. Without forest, without water, without rivers, there is no life, there is no way for any Brazilian to survive.'