The Challenge of the Xingu: indigenous cultures in the museum of the future.

Lead Research Organisation: Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Drama

Abstract

Technologies for preventative conservation are assuming an increasingly significant role in the management and protection of cultural heritage. With the incorporation of Motion-Capture and Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality technologies alongside methods already in use, these conservation practices have the potential to reach far beyond the accurate reproduction in 2D/3D facsimiles of monuments, artefacts and landscapes, offering new approaches that may enable museums, galleries and content developers in other creative industries to engage with, learn from and disseminate traditional, intense, live immersive cultural practices from around the world.

This potential for non-contact technologies to allow cultural heritage to be shared, experienced and understood is applicable to cultures across the world but this research proposes that it has a particular significance in the case of small, remote and fragile indigenous communities whose way of life is beyond the reach of the general public, whose survival depends on international awareness of their existence and significance, but who would be put at risk of destruction via the environmental and cultural impacts of intensive non-indigenous human contact.

This project will bring together a UK and Brazilian research team comprising: a lead researcher in applied performance practice; artists and community leaders from one of Brazil's remaining indigenous communities; curators and education practitioners from one of the UK's most popular museums, which has anthropology and object-handling collections of recognised importance and is developing a new 'World Gallery'; a Rio de Janeiro-based SME founded by a creative coder and devArtist working in immersive technologies; a world-leading European team of artists, technicians and conservators dedicated to digital mediation in fine art and archaeology contexts; one of Brazil's most sought-after designers in the worlds of architecture, graphic design, exhibitions and theatrical staging; and a writer from a leading UK producer of film, television and theatre, together with a distinguished researcher of the creative economy who will advise on the market transformations taking place, and the kinds of cultural value being established, as the creative economy becomes increasingly digitised.

It aims to combine the digital data capture associated with world-leading cultural conservation practice (such as photogrammetry and 3D scanning/printing) with motion-capture, VR/AR tools such as Oculus Rift headsets and Manus gloves, and traditional Kuikuro objects and artefacts, to prototype an intense immersive experience for UK museum audiences of the day to day life, environment, myths and storytelling, dance, graphism, decorative painting, crafts and other cultural practices of an indigenous Brazilian village in the Upper Xingu region.

The research team will share their work at the end of this nine month developmental project, aiming to change attitudes to digital work within the heritage and conservation sectors and to point to possible development routes that will enable museums and galleries to discover new and increasingly engaging ways to allow sites, artefacts and distant peoples to tell their stories for wider audiences.

Planned Impact

In addition to the academic benefits outlined above, this research project will offer direct benefits to all of the partners engaged in the developmental prototyping, and indicate potentials for future impact in the wider sectors within which they operate.

The Horniman Museum and Gardens, South London, and the museums/archive and heritage sector more broadly will benefit from experimentation and prototyping of VR/AR/MR that opens up rich new understandings of anthropology and object-based collections for the public through immersive experiences of cultural practices, daily life, landscape and artefacts. This is of particular relevance given the Museum's recent announcement that it is developing a 'World Gallery', which will occupy half of its footprint as a showcase of the way people from every continent live their lives and of 'what it means to be human' and will present 3,000 objects from its collection.

WeSense, Factum Arte/Factum Foundation and Playground Entertainment will benefit from the interdisciplinary experimentation and learning that takes place during the project and from the creation of a prototype which may signal future directions of technological development with potential for commercial application (particularly for WeSense and Factum Arte).

The Kuikuro community of the Ipatse village, Xingu indigenous territory, Mato Grosso State, Brazil will benefit from the opportunity to disseminate their cultural practices to a very large potential audience [Horniman Museum & Gardens annual visitor total: over 900,000] while remaining in control of the environmental and cultural impacts of this contact. The Kuikuro people will benefit from increased public understanding of their culture, which they hope will act as an advocacy tool and increase international public pressure on the Brazilian government to protect indigenous rights including territorial rights; from the opportunity to learn to operate new equipment and technologies with which they can document their practices for future generations and for fellow indigenous communities; and from the opportunity for exchange with other artists. Properly rewarded training and employment opportunities for individuals are also built in to the bid which, together with an appropriate donation to AIKAX the Indigenous Kuikuro Association, will assist the village in developing and maintaining some elements of healthcare infrastructure (generator to run the medical centre fridge to keep vaccines and antibiotics chilled, etc).

The general public will benefit from the rich understandings gained from immersive experiences of other cultures. This public will initially be largely in the UK, with the potential for wider future applications to bring increased benefits for further audiences and cultural communities.
 
Title 1st Brazil Indigenous Film Festival 
Description In the lead-up to the UN Climate Summit, COP26, People's Palace Projects, Queen Mary University of London and The University of Manchester, in partnership with the ICA and APIB, presented 12 productions by Indigenous filmmakers from Brazil, home to the world's largest remaining rainforest. The three-day festival (22-24 October 2021) featured short films, documentaries and animations that raise Indigenous voices. The programme celebrated their rituals and heritage and asserts their rights to their lands and to cultural expression, which have been brazenly dismantled and vilified under Brazil's current government. The filmmakers address these issues both poetically and provocatively in the first edition of this festival, which seeks to open up conversations about our role in preserving the planet and what we can learn from Indigenous people. Programme: Friday, 22 October, 18:15 - The Right to Earth: a programme of short works about different forms of Indigenous struggle - symbolic, practical, political, mythological - for the right to land. The opening night will be followed by a conversation with the festival curators and an indigenous leader from Brazil, moderated by People's Palace Projects' director Paul Heritage. Saturday, 23 October, 16:20 - The Ritual Dimension: from sport to religion, myths to social narratives, this four-film programme documents and celebrates the Maxakali and Kisedjê peoples in rural Brazil - and shows that while rituals may be political, the political can also be ritualistic. Sunday, 24 October, 16:20 - The Orality, Film and History: Parakanã, Guarani-Nhandewa and Guarani-Kaiowá filmmakers produce a kind of video-orality to present Indigenous communities' historical, social and philosophical perspectives. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact Due to its huge success, the ICA extended the festival by two weeks in October and November, and has offered to host a second edition of the festival in 2022. Total attendance: 429 people. 
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/1st-brazil-indigenous-film-festival-at-ica/
 
Title A View from the Xingu as part of The Encounter 2020 
Description Simon McBurney (Complicite) reworked the stage performance of the stage play The Encounter (2015) for an online audience, which was used to raise funds for the Kuikuro's Covid-19 response. As part of the re-framing for this online streamed version, Heritage and Takumã Kuikuro produced the video 'A View From the Xingu'. The estimated audience for The Encounter is 209,000 and over 7,071 people saw 'A view from the Xingu'. 
Type Of Art Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact The Just Giving campaign advertised alongside this production and the films release raised £32,482 for the Kuikuro's Covid-19 response. 
URL https://www.thespace.org/resource/encounter-case-study-live-streaming-theatre#:~:text=The%20Encounte...
 
Title Amazon Hope: Xingu Village immersive installation 
Description The multimedia installation that was piloted at the Horniman Museum in London in 2018, travelled to New York in October 2019 and was displayed for a month at the Affirmation Art Gallery as part of the event Amazon Hope. The audio-visual installation takes a 3D model of the Ipatse village of the Kuikuro and transforms it into a large projection screen (w3,7 x h3,15 x d2,8m). The bird's-eye view model of a village, which is home to approximately 400 Kuikuro people, shows a large open, oval centre surrounded by ocas (traditional ancestral houses of Brazilian indigenous peoples for over a thousand years) and the forest. The installation displays a continuous screening of a 20' mapped film created by renowned indigenous cinematographer Takumã Kuikuro, drawing on his intimate archive of over 10 years of filmmaking. I allows the audience to see, hear and experience the Kuikuro's everyday life, from the early hour when the first bird starts singing to the time the last star falls asleep. Visitors embark on a journey through the spectacular houses the Kuikuro people build for their families to live in, join their daily activities of fishing and cooking, and discover the unique language that inspires their music and dances. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The installation was seen by Gabriel Kozlowski, Assistant Curator at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2020, who invited us to showcase it as part of the main pavilion of the event in Venice. 
 
Title Amazon Hope: Xingu Village immersive installation 
Description The multimedia installation that was piloted at the Horniman Museum in London in 2018, travelled to New York in October 2019 and was displayed for a month at the Affirmation Art Gallery as part of the event Amazon Hope. The audio-visual installation takes a 3D model of the Ipatse village of the Kuikuro and transforms it into a large projection screen (w3,7 x h3,15 x d2,8m). The bird's-eye view model of a village, which is home to approximately 400 Kuikuro people, shows a large open, oval centre surrounded by ocas (traditional ancestral houses of Brazilian indigenous peoples for over a thousand years) and the forest. The installation displays a continuous screening of a 20' mapped film created by renowned indigenous cinematographer Takumã Kuikuro, drawing on his intimate archive of over 10 years of filmmaking. I allows the audience to see, hear and experience the Kuikuro's everyday life, from the early hour when the first bird starts singing to the time the last star falls asleep. Visitors embark on a journey through the spectacular houses the Kuikuro people build for their families to live in, join their daily activities of fishing and cooking, and discover the unique language that inspires their music and dances. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The installation was seen by Gabriel Kozlowski, Assistant Curator at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2020, who invited us to showcase it as part of the main pavilion of the event in Venice. 
 
Title Indigenous Research Episodes 
Description People's Palace Projects, Queen Mary University of London (PPP, QMUL) and the Indigenous Association of the Kuikuro People in Xingu (AIKAX) hosted the International Seminar on Indigenous Engagement, Research Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilisation in Rio de Janeiro in 2019, on behalf of AHRC and ESRC. The 3-day event looked to explore research partnerships between indigenous and non-indigenous partners, with particular focus on culturally sensitive knowledge exchange, equitable co-creation and mobilisation for meaningful impact. There were a wide range of partnerships, approaches and disciplines represented, as well as interdisciplinary discussions, workshops and presentations. The conversations were documented by indigenous filmmaker Takumã Kuikuro and the Kuikuro Cinema Collective and transformed into 9 short episodes available on the playlist Indigenous Research Episodes. The clips offer non-indigenous researchers working in this field insights on challenges when engaging with indigenous communities whilst ensuring co-production of knowledge and effective knowledge mobilisation, with the potential for broader impact beyond academia. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact The mini-film series which is publicly available ensures that the research findings are accessible to a wide range of HEI and general audiences, the series has been widely shared on the partners' online platforms. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcz-eAe2LHOaHA360dXHCCwSnVqs4GHB9
 
Title Kuarup, Future Assembly 
Description Takumã Kuikuro, PPP Associate Artist, produced a video about the Kuarup ceremony for the Future Assembly installation by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann, Studio Other Spaces. They invited all Biennale participants to come together and offer more-than-human Stakeholders from their local situations for Future Assembly, in order to find novel, imaginative ways of spatially representing diverse, nonhuman agencies. More than 50 proposed new planetary representatives now make up the Assembly. Surrounding the central assembly, Future Assembly Chart forms a living collection of attempts by humans to recognise and secure the rights-of-nature. The installation was a response to Biennale curator Hashim Sarkis's invitation to imagine a UN multilateral assembly of more-than-human Stakeholders. 
Type Of Art Artwork 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact The artwork was set at the Central Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, which attracted over 300,00 visitors. 
URL https://studiootherspaces.net/futureassembly/
 
Title Mini film series on Indigenous Research Methods 
Description Following the Indigenous Research Methods workshop and seminar, Heritage and the research team produced a mini film series of nine episodes about the learnings, all of which are publicly available from the People's Palace Projects youtube page (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcz-eAe2LHOaHA360dXHCCwSnVqs4GHB9). 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact The mini film series which is publicly available, ensures that the research findings accessible to a wide-range of HEI and general audiences, the series has been widely shared on the partners online platforms. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcz-eAe2LHOaHA360dXHCCwSnVqs4GHB9
 
Title Natural Future Museum 
Description In collaboration with the Kuikuro Indigenous Association, PPP is one of eight organisations (264 entries/48 countries) that has been given space to create an installation for Reimagining Museums for Climate Action (RMCA) at Glasgow Science Centre in the lead up to COP26. 'Natural Future Museum' asks what it would mean to confer museum status on existing indigenous territories that play a key role in climate action. It marks a radical step towards recalibrating indigenous engagement in museum practices beyond current discussions on the acquisition, handling and display of their tangible and intangible heritage. The installation will re-work and re-purpose digital visualisations and installations created for 'The Challenge of the Xingu: indigenous cultures in the museum of the future' and will connect museums and galleries to indigenous peoples, cultures and sites that are beyond the compass or comprehension of the general public. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact COP26 attracted heads of state, climate experts, business leaders, educational audiences and campaigners, as well as thousands of visitors and high-profile media. Renaming indigenous lands as museums and indigenous peoples as curators is an imaginative and creative process that requires collaborative action across interconnected spheres to become a concrete reality. We have already received significant interest from policymakers, activists and stakeholders in the approach that we are taking with the Kuikuro people and the technologies used to create the research outputs. COP26 offers the opportunity to achieve outcomes beyond the academic and artistic. 
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/reimagining-museums-for-climate-action/
 
Title OCA RED: Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 
Description The research team have been invited by the Venice Architecture Biennale to create an immersive audiovisual installation at the Central Pavilion in the Giardino to celebrate indigenous ways of living on a planet facing crises that require global action. The 25' minute installation re-worked and re-purposed digital visualisations and installations created for 'The Challenge of the Xingu: indigenous cultures in the museum of the future' and connected museums and galleries to indigenous peoples, cultures and sites that are beyond the compass or comprehension of the general public. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2021 
Impact The Biennale attracts the attention of thousands of people from the global architecture/design community and hundreds of thousands of interested members of the public (The 2021 edition attracted over 300,00 visitors). The research team used public engagement and media exposure to create new partnerships with high profile creative stakeholders, enabling the development of future collaborations/new ways of working. Following Venice, there has already been interest in taking the installation to cultural venues in North America (Bishops Museum/Hawaii, The Shed/New York) and South America (Museum of Tomorrow/Rio). 
URL https://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/2021/across-borders/acasa-gringo-cardia-design
 
Title OLOGIKO: Artistic Residency in an Indigenous Village 
Description In OLOGIKO (Karib word for exchange), Takumã Kuikuro documents the exchanges between indigenous and non-indigenous artists and researchers that took place at the Ipatse village in the Upper Xingu. The film also showcases the Kuikuro residence in Rio de Janeiro in 2017, as part of Multiplicidade Festival, and the immersive installations at Tate Modern and the Horniman Museum in London in 2018. The residency programme facilitated by People's Palace Projects between 2017 and 2018 aimed to uncover the potential for non-contact technologies to increase public understanding of the Xinguan culture, which we hope will act as an advocacy tool for the articulation of their heritage, culture and rights. (27 min, 2019) 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The film was premiered at the International Seminar on Indigenous Engagement, Research Partnerships, and Knowledge Mobilisation, that took place in Rio between 20-22 March 2019 for a group of 30 indigenous and non-indigenous researchers from 11 countries. Then it was made public on digital platforms on April 19th to coincide with Brazil's Dia do Índio (Indigenous Day). It has been seen by almost 2,000 online (counting Youtube and Vimeo numbers) and has been screened at the I Xingu Indigenous Film Festival in Querência (MT) in November 2019. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVYmSO2n7lE&t=3s
 
Title Virtual Reality interface of the Kamukuwaká Cave 
Description Development of an educational VR interface of the Kamukuwaká Cave with the Wauja communities in the Xingu Territory (Brazil) as a tool to maintain traditional knowledge transmission, using new technologies. This was particularly important to the community following vandalism to the Cave in 2018 that destroyed unique petroglyphs recording creation myths at this sacred site. The Wauja communities themselves designed the virtual reality experience through online meetings on Zoom, conversations on WhatsApp, community presentations and discussions at the four Wauja villages of Piyulaga, Ulupuwene, Piyulewene and Topepeweke. Besides the VR of the cave - made with 3D data provided by Factum Foundation - all digital content - recordings telling the stories of the petroglyphs, videos, photos etc. - were made by the indigenous teams. We are working on a dedicated page for the project within People's Palace Projects' new website (under development) that will host the documentation of the project, including videos, photos and an experiential video-tour of the VR reality for the general public. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact We carefully designed a project framework that was sensitive to community decision-making practices which are central to Wauja culture. Combined with a flexible attitude towards schedules, the project was agile and responsive to changing environmental conditions and community needs as they arose. The project contributed to the installation costs of sustainable energy sources (solar panels) and internet in two of the villages - Piyulewene and Topepeweke - and equipped four communities with VR equipment, laptops and hard drives. These facilities will be used well beyond our project, in school activities, other community projects etc. It was very emotional to see communities' reactions and interactions with the VR experience, identifying the petroglyphs and sharing stories with the youngsters as they used to do at the Cave. This project showed that there is room for collaborative virtual work with the Wauja communities, and we intend to explore this in future projects. 
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/kamukuwaka-vr/
 
Title Xingu Village 
Description The 'Xingu Village' was an immersive installation that took place at the Horniman Museum on 15th & 16th December 2018. The installation prototyped an augmented reality experience aimed at taking visitors at the Horniman Museum into the everyday first-millennium life of a Kuikuro indigenous village in Brazil, allowing them to explore Kuikuro myths and legends, and enable them to experience the powerful, live immersive performance rituals of the Xingu territories. By combining digital content, captured using world-leading cultural conservation practices, with virtual and augmented reality tools, visitors learned about the day to day life, environment and cultural practices of the Kuikuro. The installation, the first of its kind, involved indigenous people directly in a process that both preserved and disseminated their social and cultural histories. Through use of non-contact technologies (ipads, hololens headsets, holograms, video mapping, 3D replica), the installation has raised awareness of remote and fragile indigenous communities, whose way of life is beyond the reach of the general public, without putting them at risk. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact What was clear, from all the conversations, was the' Xingu Village experience' had clearly impacted positively on its audience and left most of them wanting more of this kind of intervention from museums and galleries. Those who did participate in the complete experience spoke of it as being 'a unique concept and opportunity' and something they had never done before or certainly not encountered in a museum or gallery previously. Most visitors had valued the way the augmented reality technology brought objects to life in a new and engaging way, even when it wasn't perfect. Parents with children were pleased it could 'be enjoyed on so many levels' and most felt they were going away knowing more but also wanting to learn more because of the unique and multi-layered nature of the experience. People spoke about the ways in which the experience not only enabled them to understand a different culture but to also, 'to see outside ourselves, to see where we belong in the bigger picture.' There was a general consensus that 'much more of this kind of thing should happen'. And that it should be a two-way process. Many felt there was much for us to learn from the Kuikuro people. Especially about the ways in which they had preserved strong links with their cultural identity and their roots, while still being clearly part of the modern world and its technology. 
URL https://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/events/xingu-village
 
Description The team was successful in delivering a pilot installation at the Horniman Museum that used a combination of mixed reality object animation, an immersive sound installation, video mapping, and authentic personal contact with two Kuikuro artists and cultural education practitioners to bring an intense experience of a remote culture to UK audiences. The experience was highly popular with public audiences.

From the Evaluation Report:

For a significant number of people, the curation and selection of the objects and artefacts by the villagers themselves was crucially important. As was their recognition that Takumã was the film-maker. People spoke about realising the importance of 'self-representation' and noted that 'giving a voice is important' which they felt you didn't get a sense at many exhibitions. They mentioned a strong sense that villagers had been given the 'power' to tell their own story and that came across in the holograms and videos. ?Others spoke about the possibility it offered to 'not just be observers of others' lives' but 'to see it from their point of view.'?For those Brazilians living in the UK, there was a particular resonance. 'It was so amazing for my kids to be able to experience this'. 'They were to see and experience their own inheritance.' 'It's not even something we get a chance to do when we return to Brazil -to go to these places and to meet the people.'

What was clear, from all the conversations, was the' Xingu Village experience' had clearly impacted positively on its audience and left most of them wanting more of this kind of intervention from museums and galleries. Most were sorry it wasn't available for longer as they had hoped to recommend it to others. Knowing that they were among a hundred or so people able to see it meant they often spoke about being 'privileged to be there'and many prefaced their feedback with the words, 'Thank you!' Even those who only encountered Yamalui in the corridor or were able to touch some of the tribal objects at the table in the music gallery expressed pleasure and gratitude at having this opportunity. Those who did participate in the complete experiences poke of it as being 'a unique concept and opportunity' and something they had never done before or certainly not encountered in a museum or gallery previously. They felt it was a way in which museums could begin to become 'living places', and their content become 'much more 3 -dimensional' and 'more relevant'. As part of that, most had valued the way the augmented reality technology brought objects to life in a new and engaging way, even when it wasn't perfect. Most presumed the technology could be improved on quickly and saw this as a good initiative to see how it might work with audiences. They enjoyed the mix of things like iPads, holograms and more traditional approaches such as film, objects and live encounter and responded to what they described as the 'multi-sensory' nature of the experience and the intriguing 'polarisation of high tech and low tech'. Each individual intervention was mentioned positively by someone; from the visual impact of the threads across the atrium to the introduction to Yamalui, to the sound 'journey'through the jungle, the objects and artefacts, the film and holograms, and finally the opportunity to sit down and speak about it afterwards. Parents with children were pleased it could 'be enjoyed on so many levels' and most felt they were going away knowing more but also wanting to learn more because of the unique and multi-layered nature of the experience. As one man commented, 'it is something that just sticks with you.'

The notion of agency played an important part in many people's responses. They were supportive of the inclusiveness of the partnership and the power given to the villagers to influence many of the choices. Most people understood, and mentioned, the importance of giving indigenous people a voice within the museum. There was a concern that they should not be 'commodified' or objectified because of differences in culture but that this should be seen, as Yamalui himself expressed, as an exchange between equals. There was also a strong sense, even from one or two of the children, of an understanding of the implications the current political climate has for indigenous people such as the Kuikuro. The need for greater visibility and real representation was recognised and although Yamalui spoke of the strength of the people of the Xingu and their culture, people felt it was important that this event had highlighted their existence and their lives.

People spoke about the ways in which the experience not only enabled them to understand a different culture but to also,'to see outside ourselves, to see where we belong in the bigger picture.' There was a fascination, when given the opportunity to speak to Yamalui or Takumã, with how people earned their living, how the children were educated and their relationship with the towns and cities of the places that surround them. Those visitors, and there were a number, who came from cultures where manioc, or cassava, was still part of their own diet, spoke about the personal connection they had felt with some of the objects and wanted the Horniman to think of ways in which the local Caribbean and other communities might share their stories in similar ways. They felt food should be central to this and would be an important way of the museum creating an affinity between itself and the people who come to visit. In the end, many people spoke about having spent more time than they had expected engaging with the experience,but also with speaking and thinking about it afterwards. The concept of time came up in a number of conversations as people explained that the mixed approach had 'engrossed them' in ways they had not expected, that the experience overall had a 'kind of intensity' that 'made you feel like you'd been there in that village for ages' and that the combination of the different approaches had given them the possibility to 'really get immersed in people's lives'in ways that went beyond their usual museum experience. People were also full of ideas of how the museum might use these kinds of technologies with other objects and artefacts -especially in the music gallery where we held our conversations. Many people suggested technology might be used to bring the instruments to life and help us understand how they were used and played as well as what they sounded like. There was a general consensus that 'much more of this kind of thing should happen'.And that it should be a two-way process. Many felt there was much for us to learn from the Kuikuro people. Especially about the ways in which they had preserved strong links with their cultural identity and their roots, while still being clearly part of the modern world and its technology.
Exploitation Route Learning about the way that traditional audio-visual and design practices can enhance the impact of immersive technologies, and the effectiveness of immersive museum experiences of remote cultures, can be applied in future exhibitions.
Sectors Creative Economy

Education

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

Other

 
Description In Autumn 2018, during the gathering of material for this project, the shocking vandalism of an ancient patrimonial site for the Xingu peoples, the Kamuwaka Caves, was discovered. The network of partners in the research project, including the Wauja and Kuikuro people of the Xingu, People's Palace Projects, Factum Foundation and Brazilian anthropologists, were able quickly to mobilise their joint resources to produce powerful content for the national and international press including visuals of the damage and well researched briefings on both the scale of the cultural loss and the legal position and vulnerability of the site that enabled the story to be covered widely in State, national and international press. Factum Foundation produced a rematerialized 3d record of the unique rock carvings that had been destroyed and held a press conference at its workshops in Madrid in October 2019. Parts of the film produced for "Challenge of the Xingu" were screened at this event together with talks by Paul Heritage and Takuma Kuikuro. The video-mapping element of the installation was re-staged in New York for a month from 10 October-10 November 2019 at Affirmation Arts Gallery, New York, as part of an exhibition entitled 'Amazon Hope'. In addition, Paul Heritage, Gringo Cardia and Takuma Kuikuro were all invited to speak at a live-streamed event 'Amazon Hope' event on 10-11 October 2019. AIKAX, People's Palace Projects and The Horniman Museum mounted an exhibition that gave 230 UK attenders an immersive insight into Kuikuro culture and the opportunity to make connection with two Kuikuro artists. A YouTube video of the Horniman experience has now gained over 775 views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LcLiQhbeo8 This research has also led to two high-profile opportunities to re-work and re-purpose digital visualisations and installations created for 'The Challenge of the Xingu: indigenous cultures in the museum of the future' and 'Xingu Encounter' that will connect museums and galleries to indigenous peoples, cultures and sites that are beyond the compass or comprehension of the general public in 2021. These installations were hosted by the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale - who have invited the team to create an installation in the Central Pavilion at the Giardino to celebrate indigenous ways of living on a planet facing crises that require global action, which attracted over 300,00 visitors; and new work was created for the Reimagining Museums for Climate Action exhibition at the Glasgow Science Centre, part of COP26 Green Zone. The exhibition was seen by over 60,000 people in 5 months. In 2021, PPP and Factum Foundation started working with the Wauja people on the development of an educational VR interface of the Kamukuwaká Cave, with support from the British Council Digital Collaboration Fund as a tool to maintain traditional knowledge transmission, using new technologies. The Wauja communities themselves designed the virtual reality experience through online meetings, community presentations and discussions at the four Wauja villages of Piyulaga, Ulupuwene, Piyulewene and Topepeweke. Besides the VR of the cave - made with 3D data provided by Factum Foundation - all digital content - recordings telling the stories of the petroglyphs, videos, photos etc. - were made by the indigenous teams. The learnings and knowledge exchange which have come out of this project have impacted several other collaborations in this area of research. For example, PPP's presence at COP27 and COP28 with Indigenous partners, raising awareness about the Kamukuwaká Cave on a global scale, impacting future policy around Indigenous rights and climate change, and the From the Ashes festival which highlighted the creativity of Indigenous artists in Brazil.
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other
 
Description Involvement at COP28: the establishment at COP28 of the Group of Friends of Culture-Based Climate Action.
Geographic Reach South America 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact At COP28, PPP also made valuable in-person connections contributing to cultural change and public visibility, leading to changes of opinion. PPP's team met the head of Pogust Goodhead, an international law firm, with headquarters in London with a focus on social and climate litigation. We are now in conversation to work in partnership with Pogust Goodhead with a strong possibility of funding. Our Indigenous research collaborator, photographer and teacher Piratá Waurá, who travelled in the Queen Mary group was able to meet in person with: Brazil's Ministry of Environment; Brazil's Ministry of Culture; Brazil's Ministry of Indigenous People; President of Brazil's National Indigenous Association, APIB, Dinama Tuxá; Leader of Brazil's Indigenous Women Association; Activist and key speaker at COP26 in Glasgow, Txai Suruí. PPP's Communications Manager Yula Rocha worked closely with Sam Gough (QMUL International Communications Mgr) in Dubai to strengthen relationships with the press, especially in Brazil. Press and social media work increased visibility of PPP's work and disseminated knowledge to the wider public via COP's global impact.
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/the-climate-crisis-is-a-cultural-crisis/
 
Description Centre for Public Engagement Large Grant
Amount £9,971 (GBP)
Organisation Queen Mary University of London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2018 
End 07/2019
 
Description General Funding - for ECHOES Indigenous Film Festival
Amount £3,000 (GBP)
Organisation Embassy of Brazil in London 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 05/2023
 
Description II Brazil Indigenous Film Festival UK - Raising Voices for Indigenous Rights: the second edition of a festival curated by Brazilian Indigenous filmmakers, featuring about 20 productions by Indigenous artists at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in
Amount $20,000 (USD)
Funding ID G-23-2131735 
Organisation Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United States
Start 02/2023 
End 07/2023
 
Description Indigenous Film Festival contribution
Amount £6,921 (GBP)
Organisation University of Manchester 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2021 
End 11/2021
 
Description Indigenous Research Methods programme 2020-2021
Amount £29,110 (GBP)
Organisation United Kingdom Research and Innovation 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2020 
End 11/2021
 
Description Indigenous Research Methods workshop
Amount £52,000 (GBP)
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2019 
End 04/2019
 
Description Kamukuwaká VR: enabling digital futures for indigenous knowledge from the Xingu
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Organisation British Council 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2021 
End 02/2022
 
Description Kamukuwaka Caves
Amount $100,000 (USD)
Organisation Iron Mountain 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 01/2023 
End 12/2024
 
Description National Portfolio 2023-26
Amount £403,728 (GBP)
Organisation Arts Council England 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 03/2026
 
Description Prize for "Reimagining Museums for Climate Action" design competition
Amount £2,500 (GBP)
Organisation Climate Action Network Uganda 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country Uganda
Start 11/2020 
End 11/2021
 
Description QMUL CPE Small Grant
Amount £1,000 (GBP)
Organisation Queen Mary University of London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2019 
End 07/2019
 
Description QMUL Centre for Public Engagement Large Grant
Amount £9,971 (GBP)
Organisation Queen Mary University of London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 12/2018
 
Description QMUL Impact Fund 2021 Award
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Organisation Queen Mary University of London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2021 
End 03/2022
 
Description QMUL SRI fund
Amount £4,000 (GBP)
Organisation Queen Mary University of London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2019 
End 07/2020
 
Description Xingu Encounter
Amount £24,167 (GBP)
Funding ID AH/T001372/1 
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2019 
End 12/2019
 
Description Horniman Museum 
Organisation Horniman Museum and Gardens
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Paul Heritage invited Janet Vitmayer (Director, Horniman Museum & Gardens) to join the London Advisory Board for the project and subsequently advised on the Horniman Museum's Brazil Festival for 2016.
Collaborator Contribution Janet Vitmayer advised on the research as a London Advisory Board member and two members of Horniman staff attended and contributed to the London seminar. As part of their Brazil Festival 2016, Horniman programmed an exhibition "Favela: Joy and Pain in the City" which extended opportunities for the public in the UK to experience the work of photographers from Observatory of the Favelas (whose exchange with the UK formed part of one of the Case Studies within The Art of Cultural Exchange).
Impact 1) Following Paul Heritage's initial advice, the Horniman Museum sent a staff member to Brazil in 2015 to research programme and artists for their planned Brazil Festival 2016. PPP/Paul Heritage supported the trip and brokered meetings with artists, particularly in Rio. Subsequently, PPP was contracted to make programming suggestions for the Festival and to work on and support the participation of various artists. 2) The exhibition 'Favela: Joy and Pain in the City' was programmed at the Horniman from 23rd April to 18th September 2016. 3) the exhibition was also featured in the Guardian Online https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/may/02/favela-joy-and-pain-in-the-city-in-pictures 4) Residencies supported by PPP included: - Robson Rozza and Saulo Eduardo, performing a dance piece "Between X and Y" themed on intersex experience; running craft making workshops and storytelling sessions at the museum and collaborating with a local carnival association in South London - Derlon Almeida, creating new pieces of graffiti at four sites across London in Forest Hill, Shoreditch and Trafalgar Square - Projeto Morrinho, running participatory workshops with local young people and adults towards the collaborative creation of a decorative temporary installation at the Horniman representing a favela.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Horniman Museums and Gardens 
Organisation Horniman Museum and Gardens
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution People's Palace Projects (PPP) offered the opportunity for the Horniman to develop a partnership with all collaborators: AIKAX, Factum Foundation, WeSense, A Casa Gringo Cardia, Playground Entertainment and Rio Planetarium. PPP invited Robert Storrie (Anthropology Keeper, Horniman Museum), to join the residency organised by PPP in partnership with AIKAX in the Ipatse Village in the Upper Xingu between 5-16 September 2018. PPP produced the 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman Museum on the 15 and 16th December 2018, offering to over 200 people the opportunity to embark on a digital journey into the Kuikuro village, using augmented reality and video technologies.
Collaborator Contribution Robert Storrie (Anthropology Keeper, Horniman Museum) participated in the Xingu residency in September and actively supported the development and curation of the digital experience. The Horniman hosted the 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at their Music Gallery on the 15 and 16th December 2018.
Impact The collaboration resulted in a 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman's Music Gallery on the 15 and 16th December 2018. Using augmented reality and video technologies, the fully-booked event (207 attendees) offered the audience the opportunity to embark on a digital journey into the Kuikuro village, and to meet face to face with indigenous artists Takumã and Yamalui Kuikuro.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 
Organisation Institute of Contemporary Arts
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Host organisation for ECHOES Indigenous Film festival
Collaborator Contribution Hosting event
Impact - Festival brought attention to issues around the future of Indigenous peoples, their experiences, from ongoing struggles for land rights to the impact of the climate emergency on Indigenous cultural heritage, and what their arts represents to an international audience.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Migrate Art collaboration with PPP and Wauja community 
Organisation Kuikuro Indigenous Association of the Alto Xingu (AIKAX)
Country Brazil 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team and I introduced MigrateArt to two Indigenous communities based in the Brazilian Xingu region - the Kuikuro and Wauja people. We negotiated and supported a visit of one week to three villages in the region, translating and facilitating a dialogue between MigrateArt and each community. We drew up a proposal with MigrateArt for the collection of two regional ingredients for pigment: ashes from forest fires, and red urucum seeds.
Collaborator Contribution MigrateArt funded the research trip of Simon Butler to the Xingu to meet local communities and gather samples. The proposal has now been considered and approved by the regional Council of the Indigenous communities of the Xingu at its 2022 Annual Assembly, giving consent by all of the peoples of the Xingu for the use of common property (the seeds and ashes gathered from the territory) for this project. Now the agreement is complete, MigrateArt will use the pigments to produce paints and distribute the paints to selected international contemporary artists, whose eventual work will be auctioned for the benefit of equipping the Kuikuro and Wauja communities to fight forest fires.
Impact Approval at the 2022 Annual Assembly of the Indigenous Communities of the Xingu Territory of the project proposal between Ulupuene Indigenous Association (Associação Indígena Ulupuene - AIU), People's Palace Projects and MigrateArt.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Playground UK 
Organisation The Playground
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution PPP offered Playground UK the opportunity to explore the potential of immersive technologies to open up experiences of remote indigenous cultures to mainstream audiences through a museum-based pilot and to collaborate with AIKAX, Factum Foundation WeSense, A Casa Gringo Cardia, and Rio Planetarium. PPP invited writer Laura Lomas to join the residency organised by PPP in partnership with AIKAX in the Ipatse Village in the Upper Xingu in September 2018.
Collaborator Contribution Sophie Gardiner, Executive Creative Director at Playground Entertainment, selected young playwright Laura Lomas, who committed 2 full-time weeks of work during the Ipatse Village in the Upper Xingu in September 2018. During the months of October and November, Laura participated in a series of meetings with the partners to advise on the narrative structure for the immersive experience prototype.
Impact The collaboration resulted in a 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman's Music Gallery on the 15 and 16th December 2018. Using augmented reality and video technologies, the fully-booked event (207 attendees) offered the audience the opportunity to embark on a digital journey into the Kuikuro village, and to meet face to face with indigenous artists Takumã and Yamalui Kuikuro.
Start Year 2018
 
Description The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation 
Organisation The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation
Country Spain 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution People's Palace Projects (PPP) offered the opportunity for Factum Foundation to advance the partnership they have previously developed with AIKAX during Social Change through Creativity and Culture Stage 3: Extending Research Activity for Further Impact (AH/P007252/1) and to collaborate with WeSense, A Casa Gringo Cardia, Playground Entertainment and Rio Planetarium. PPP invited Ferdinand Saumarez and Arthur Prior (photogrammetry and LiDAR scanner specialists) to join the residency organised by PPP in partnership with AIKAX in the Ipatse Village in the Upper Xingu in September 2018.
Collaborator Contribution The Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation is a not-for-profit organisation, established in 2009 to demonstrate the importance of documenting, monitoring, studying, recreating and disseminating the world's cultural heritage through the rigorous development of high-resolution recording and re-materialization techniques. Its primary objective is to ensure that future generations can inherit the past in a condition in which it can be studied in depth and emotionally engaged with. Factum Foundation hosted a 2-day visit on their workshop in Madrid for PPP team and one WeSense technology specialist in May 2018. The focus of the visit was to experiment with never-previously used technologies, in conjunction with the equipment and techniques developed by Factum Arte, and explore the production of innovative immersive experiences that advance the understanding of artistic conservation, public access and cultural exchange. Ferdinand Saumarez and Arthur Prior (photogrammetry and LiDAR scanner specialists from Factum) joined the residency organised by PPP in partnership with AIKAX in the Upper Xingu in September 2018 and documented the vandalised ancient cave of Kamukuwaka using high-resolution 3D-imaging technologies, including laser-scanning and photogrammetry. Factum supported the production of the 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman Museum on the 15 and 16th December 2018, offering their digital recordings to the construction of a 3D model of the village.
Impact The multidisciplinary collaboration resulted in a 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman's Music Gallery on the 15 and 16th December 2018. Using augmented reality and video technologies, the fully-booked event (207 attendees) offered the audience the opportunity to embark on a digital journey into the Kuikuro village, and to meet face to face with indigenous artists Takumã and Yamalui Kuikuro.
Start Year 2018
 
Description WeSense 
Organisation WeSense
Country Israel 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution People's Palace Projects (PPP) offered the opportunity for WeSense to advance the partnership they have previously developed with AIKAX and Factum Foundation during The Currency of Cultural Exchange: re-thinking models of indigenous development (AH/P007708/1), and to collaborate with A Casa Gringo Cardia, Playground Entertainment and Rio Planetarium. PPP invited Clelio de Paula for a 2-day visit to Factum Foundation's workshop in Madrid in May 2018. The focus of the visit was to experiment with never-previously used technologies, in conjunction with the equipment and techniques developed by Factum Arte, and explore the production of innovative immersive experiences that advance the understanding of artistic conservation, public access and cultural exchange. PPP invited Clelio de Paula (founder and director) and Jordy Henry (augmented reality specialist) to join the residency organised in the Ipatse Village in the Upper Xingu between 5-16 September 2018.
Collaborator Contribution WeSense is a company specialised in the creation of products presenting immersive experiences, virtual reality and gaming through interactive platforms, sensors, computing arts and design. In August 2017, WeSense participated in an arts residency with PPP in the Ipatse indigenous village located in the Xingu region as part of The Currency of Cultural Exchange: re-thinking models of indigenous development (AH/P007708/1). On this project Clelio de Paula (founder and director) and Jordy Henry (augmented reality specialist) spent 2 weeks in the Xingu region to prototype the 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman Museum on the 15 and 16th December 2018, offering their digital equipment and expertise on building immersive environments to the collaboration, as well as participating in the planning meetings and public events.
Impact The multidisciplinary collaboration resulted in a 2-day immersive installation 'Xingu Village' at the Horniman's Music Gallery on the 15 and 16th December 2018. Using augmented reality and video technologies, the fully-booked event (207 attendees) offered the audience the opportunity to embark on a digital journey into the Kuikuro village, and to meet face to face with indigenous artists Takumã and Yamalui Kuikuro.
Start Year 2018
 
Description 4th International Seminar on Indigenous Research Methodologies 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Running for three weeks from Monday 18th October to Friday 5th November 2021, the 4th International Seminar on Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRM) opened alongside Queen Mary University's Sustainability Week, as part of the activities that PPP are promoting in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference COP26. The programme brought together a series of online webinars, and art installations at QMUL Mile End campus and the 1st Brazil Indigenous Film Festival at the ICA on 22-24 October.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/full-programme-of-indigenous-research-methods-seminars-relea...
 
Description Aislan Pankararu: Artist Residency 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Aislan Pankararu spent the month of May 2023 in an art studio in London producing 13 painting for his FEEL IT exhibition at he the Brazilian Embassy as part of the Indigenous Film Festival project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Amazon Hope: The Kuikuro Exchange 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Supporters
Results and Impact Professor Paul Heritage, designer Gringo Cardia and indigenous filmmaker Takumã Kuikuro made a presentation about the collaborative artistic exchange between indigenous and non-indigenous artists led by People's Palace Projects and AIKAX, as part of the event Amazon Hope.

Amazon Hope tool place in New York in October 2019, joining together the specialists most intimately engaged with the Xingu and the diverse indigenous peoples who call it home. It aimed to jointly consider the current crisis - the hardest hit portion of the Amazon - and communicate its vitality and importance to interested partners, potential donors and the public. The disastrous fires, which catapulted to the world stage recently, have plagued the region for a decade. They are the result of drought conditions, which have become the new normal in the arc of deforestation. Local fire prevention efforts have succeeded in curbing the collapse of the closed moist forests of the region, but far more is needed. Through Amazon Hope, scientists, artists and indigenous leaders worked to devise solutions. The creation of a southern Amazon indigenous "firewall," will be used as a tool to protect the lands, forests, waters and cultural heritage. Technology will empower indigenous people themselves, who constitute a veritable army of committed individuals, zealously looking for solutions to defend against the decimation of their lands and livelihoods.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.pennywisefoundation.org/amazon-hope.html
 
Description COP26 - An Emergency London Gathering 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact COP26 -An Emergency London Gathering at the Roundhouse. Despite being represented in Glasgow, the indigenous people and activists from the Global South did not have a seat at the negotiating table. With theatre company Complicite, PPP called an emergency gathering in London to reflect on what can be done next. With Takumã Kuikuro, Simon McBurney, Fehinti Balogun, Yamalui Kuikuro, Shirley Krenak, Sarah Shenker, Raull Santiago, and Professor Paul Heritage. Hosted by Conrad Murray. Funded by Complicité, People's Palace Projects & Queen Mary University of London and supported by Survival International, Five Fifty Five and The Roundhouse. (Attendance: 79 people)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Creative Climate Connections Xingu-Wales (CCC) workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 7 workshops with 20 young people from the Xingu Indigenous Territory (Brazil) and Wales were linked by their experiences and responses to climate change. In partnership with Dirty Protest and the Wauja Indigenous Association, PPP piloted a programme of seven online workshops for students to co-create a collective artistic response to the climate crisis in drastically different lived environments. The project was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Creative Climate Connections was featured on ITV news Wales.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/creative-climate-connections-xingu-wales-ccc/
 
Description Cultural Astronomy: a voyage through indigenous skies 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact To mark the opening of the International Seminar on Indigenous Engagement, Research Partnerships, and Knowledge Mobilisation, People's Palace Projects and the Planetarium of Rio co-hosted a public evening event to reveal the stories told by different indigenous communities in the sky. Speakers included: Chief Afukaka and Kuikuro representatives, Brazilian astronomers Germano Bruno Afonso (UNINTER) and Flavia Pedroza Lima (Planetário do Rio), Brazilian anthropologist Mércio Pereira Gomes (UFRJ), and Claudia Maigora Morales, who will speak about the importance of the constellations and the moon for her people Emberá-Chamí of Colombia. Over 200 people attended the event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.facebook.com/events/planet%C3%A1rio-do-rio/astronomia-cultural-uma-viagem-pelos-c%C3%A9u...
 
Description ECo-Nversations: The Role of the Arts in the Climate Emergency 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact How do we change hearts and minds about the climate crisis? Is it time to get cultural institutions, artists, and storytellers on board? When will we paying attention to the voices on the front line of the fight for climate justice? Eco-nversation is a podcast that brings together activists, artists, and academics to discuss our roles and responsibilities in the climate emergency, produced by People's Palace Projects at Queen Mary University of London

In this first episode, we talk about the role of artists and arts organisations in responding to the climate emergency.
Guests: Madani Younis and Zoe Svendsen.


Madani is chief executive producer of The Shed (New York, USA) and former creative director of the Southbank Centre (London, UK), and artistic director of the Bush Theatre (London, UK) and Freedom Studios (Bradford, UK). Madani says we must make active commitments, drive change and find ways to hold each other accountable.

Zoe Svendsen is an associate artist at Donmar Warehouse (London, UK) and lecturer at Cambridge University (Cambridge, UK), with vast experience as a director and dramaturg, including at the Barbican, Young Vic and Shakespeare's Globe (London, UK). For Zoe, the questions we need to ask about who we are and how we live in the world must be articulated as a conversation, both in and beyond the theatre.



Hosted by Paul Heritage, director of , an art research centre for social justice and Professor of Drama and Performance at Queen Mary University of London.

Executive production and script: Yula Rocha/ People's Palace Projects

Audio design:
Image: #ShowYourStripes by University of Reading
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://open.spotify.com/show/5IheM3KhVjgJpQ7BafoFQL
 
Description Echoes Indigenous Film festival in Paris bringing three Indigenous curators for a screening of short films + Q&A 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact In partnership with Amazonie Immersive, the Festival travelled to Paris this year for a condensed two-day programme at Publicis cinema in Champs-Elysées. Graciela Guarani's first feature film Horizonte Colorido (Colourful Horizon) had its world premier in the ECHOES Festival in Paris.Graciela Guarani, Takuma Kuikuro and Ziel Karapoto engaged with the french audience on Q&A Sessions after the screenings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/echoes-indigenous-film-festival-ica-london/
 
Description Event Xingu <> Rio <> Londres = Câmbios Culturais na balança, Museum of Tomorrow 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In May 2018, I hosted an open conversation at Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Tomorrow with indigenous researchers, artists and anthropologists to discuss and disseminate the outputs of 'The Currency of the Cultural Exchange' and to introduce the new research project 'The Challenge of the Xingu'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description FEEL IT: Aislan Pankararu solo exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact During a month-long residency in London (May 2023), Aislan Pankararu produced 13 new oil-based paintings on linen canvas. Aislan's first international solo exhibition FEEL IT (19 May- 1 June 2023) was launched in a sold-out event at the Brazilian Embassy in London. He made history as the first Indigenous artist to exhibit at the Embassy in over 200 years. The exhibition opened to a sold out opening event at the Brazilian embassy and finissage concert. The exhibition will garner over 400 visitors. 1 artwork has been donated to Brazil's government's permanent art collection. The reach and impact of this exhibition has been extended through appearances in the press, in outlets such as TV Cultura and Radio France international.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/echoes-indigenous-film-festival-ica-london/
 
Description Film screenings at ECHOES Indigenous Film Festival 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Screening of 18 short films + Q&A sessions with Indigenous curators/filmmakers. Featuring 18 works from 21 filmmakers, Echoes represented 13 ethnic groups from 10 regions in Brazil and neighbouring countries, and was a rich celebration of diversity and versatility of Indigenous storytelling. The festival took place over 7 days in London and 3 days in Paris. The total audience reached was 350+ people at the ICA in London + 100 people at the Publicis Cinema in Paris. This was followed by 1 month of online streaming for ICA members and 1 private meeting with the British Film Industry. There was a screening and discussion about climate policy at the FCDO Climate and Forest Units, potentially impacting future policy decisions. The audience reach was expanded by an extensive press campaign, with article and news reports from outlets such as TV Cultura, Radio France international, Monocle, Kermode and Mayo's Take, SBT News, and This Pieces.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/echoes-indigenous-film-festival-ica-london/
 
Description From the Ashes: Exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact This was the exhibition resulting from British artist Simon Butler's visit to the Xingu Indigenous territory. His work addresses the urgent need for conservation and protection of the Amazon Rainforest, and supporting the fight of the communities who call it home. The exhibition attracted over 500 visitors to the Truman Brewery art gallery. The exhibition and auction included new works by 29 Indigenous and non-Indigenous contemporary artists including Aislan Pankararu, Cornelia Parker, Mari´a Berri´o, Richard Long, Shezad Dawood and Tacita Dean. The exhibition called for the urgent need for conservation of the Amazon and support for the guardians of the rainforest. Proceeds raised will provide vital support for Xingu Indigenous communities, such as firefighting equipment, reforesting initiatives, and monitoring technologies in the villages.

An extensive press and social media campaign ran by PPP's communications manager Yula Rocha meant that the the exhibition reached wide audiences, raising awareness about the challenges facing the Xingu communities, and showcasing their art and creativity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/from-the-ashes/
 
Description I Webinar on Indigenous Research Methodologies 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The webinar was an opportunity to address the increasing number of UK-based scholars working transnationally and internationally among Indigenous peoples. They inform the international development research community, across disciplines, on challenges when engaging with indigenous communities whilst ensuring co-production of knowledge and effective knowledge mobilisation, and to help identify areas where good practice is established or additional work is required. The 2-hour online event brought together 57 participants and was an opportunity to learn how indigenous partners are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to draw the agenda for the next events in 2021.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/webinar-indigenous-research/
 
Description II Webinar on Indigenous Research Methodologies 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The second webinar was an opportunity to bring together indigenous and non-indigenous researchers to discuss the challenges for indigenous research in different regions and fields of knowledge. The event also hosted a conversation between Simon McBurney (Complicité Theatre) and Ailton Krenak (leader of the Krenak people, Brazil).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcz-eAe2LHOaSzYGm-C4nZmQiWdHbeIvE
 
Description Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Resilience - COP26 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Heritage, Senior Project Manager Thiago Jesus, and Indigenous artists Takumã Kuikuro and Yamalui Kuikuro participated on the panel Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Resilience, hosted by PRAXIS in partnership with the British Council as part of the Resilience Hub at the Blue Zone. Representatives of Indigenous communities from across the globe will highlight the growing impact that climate change is having on Indigenous communities and their livelihoods, and the often-overlooked role of Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices to address climate change and increasing climate resilience. The event interspersed hard-hitting short films with interactive discussions with researchers and practitioners working with Indigenous communities (attendance: 98 people online)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhmTTk3RvI&list=PLP9pjMsarzwi7I02i0YZuEuWZEoD2r6id&index=2
 
Description Indigenous Research Methods - Art installations at QMUL 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Display of art installations 'Oca Red: Living Beyond the End of the World' and 'Natural Future Museums' at Mile End campus, Queen Mary University of London, as part of the 4th International Seminar on Indigenous Research Methods. The installations were visited by 52 audience members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description International Seminar on Indigenous Engagement, Research Partnerships, and Knowledge Mobilisation 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact On behalf of the ESRC and AHRC, People's Palace Projects (Queen Mary University of London) hosted a workshop on Indigenous Research Methods in Rio de Janeiro between 20-22 March 2019. Indigenous engagement in research partnerships and knowledge mobilisation has been identified by the UK research councils as a priority area of international development research practice. The workshop in Rio de Janeiro is intended to inform the international development research community, across disciplines, on challenges when engaging with indigenous communities whilst ensuring co-production of knowledge and effective knowledge mobilisation, with the potential for broader impact beyond academia, and in turn identify areas where good practice is established or additional work is required.

GCRF award-holders have been invited to provide case-studies examining the issues that researchers face when engaging with indigenous communities, co-production of knowledge and ensuring equitable appropriate knowledge exchange and impact. The aim is to develop a publication detailing guidance for undertaking international development research with indigenous people, future strategic research initiatives and related research activities and opportunities for collaboration, in particular ahead of the development of future research plans.

The workshop included indigenous researchers from 10 different countries (Brazil, Colombia, India, Mongolia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Dominica) as well as PIs from 11 UK universities and 1 public research institution:
• University of Cambridge
• University of Leeds
• University of Leicester
• Bath Spa University
• Cardiff University
• University of St Andrews
• University of Bedfordshire
• Cardiff Metropolitan University
• University of East Anglia
• The University of Manchester
• Queen Mary University of London
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (botanical research and education institution sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The themes covered by the researchers at the workshop included: climate/environmental change; ecological justice; sustainability; Sustainable Development; risk management; traditional agricultural knowledge; "good living"; alternatives to Western development models; resilience; policy uptake; engagement/participatory research; knowledge production/mobilisation; intangible cultural heritage; identity; cultural self-representation; negotiating different/difficult agendas; language; representation; land disputes; social exclusion; racism; ongoing genocide; gender violence; sorcery accusations; health care needs of rural villages; increasing socio-economic benefits; displacement; disaster risk; methods from the arts.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/indigenous-research-methods-workshop/
 
Description Kuikuro Fundraising Campaign: Fire Brigade 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Kuikuro people from the Xingu territories in Brazil's Amazon basin are being left alone to fight a record number of fires. They have created an indigenous fire brigade and need resources to save the forest and to expand it to the Wauja people. To coincide with the programme of activities for COP26, PPP set up a fundraising campaign to supply the Kuikuro people with fire equipment and protective clothing (including helmets, boots and gloves) as well as petrol for the car needed to reach remote areas effected by the fires. Donations will also cover expenses for training and equipping new volunteers from the Wauja indigenous community, who will then be able to launch its own fire brigade. The campaign fundraiser £669 by the 1 December 2021.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/indigenousfirebrigade
 
Description Kuikuro and Yawalapiti Fundraising Campaigns: Covid-19 Emergency Appeal 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Alongside the remaking of The Encounter 2020, a JustGiving page was set up to raise money for the Kuikuro and the Yawalapiti's response to Covid-19. This collaboration between AIKAX, HERITAGE, People's Palace Projects and Complicite raised in total £32,482 for the Kuikuro people, and £8,844 for the Yawalapiti. Donations have supported the Kuikuro and items that have been procured from funds raised include: 1,293 kg food; 440 hygiene items; 915 litres of diesel;1,850 litres of petrol; 8,257 items of PPEs (gloves, face shields, masks, safety glasses, aprons, thermometers, oximeters); 650 reusable face masks; 5,394 items of medicine; 20 hammocks; 84 litres of hand sanitiser.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Kuikuroagainstcovid
 
Description Our Village: What Does it mean to Belong? - COP26 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Professor Heritage and PPP Associate Artists Takumã Kuikuro participated in the event 'What Does it Mean to Belong?', part of the 'Our Village programme' organised by the NGO If Not Us Then Who at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow (CCA) during COP26. 34 audience members attended the event, which was also streamed via zoom (80 online guests).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73kBLqN_1U4&feature=youtu.be
 
Description Panel Art and Activism: Transforming Culture through Artistic Influence, at the IETM Aarhus Plenary Meeting 2023. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Thiago Jesus mediated the panel exploring the transformative potential the arts have in instigating cultural change. How can artists and the arts play a key role in influencing the narrative on climate change and inspire positive change - both within the arts sector and in society.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Panel at Copenhagen DocFest Inter:Active Symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Research team members Pirata Waura and Thiago Jesus participated in a public panel event "My Story, Your Story, Our Story: Sharing the Power of Creation" alongside the producers of The Territory (2022 film) to give a public talk about collaborations with Indigenous communities in the film industry.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Press activity for Challenge of the Xingu: 9 articles 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Articles achieved included:
London News Online https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/whats-on-take-a-virtual-trip-to-brazil-with-the-xingu-village-experience-at-the-horniman-museum/
The Docklands & East London Advertiser https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/heritage/queen-mary-university-of-london-runs-amazon-xingu-village-project-at-horniman-museum-1-5810351
Virtual Multi Modal Museum Plus https://www.vi-mm.eu/2018/12/23/peoples-palace-goes-on-virtual-reality-journey-to-amazons-xingu-people-with-horniman-museum-installation/
Around Dulwich http://arounddulwich.co.uk/horniman-museum-and-gardens-december-events/
QMUL https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2019/hss/queen-marys-peoples-palace-project-research-is-nominated-for-times-higher-education-award.html
Sounds and Colours https://soundsandcolours.com/event/xingu-village/
News from Crystal Palace https://newsfromcrystalpalace.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/december-at-the-horniman-museum/
Jornal da Cultura TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LcLiQhbeo8
The World News https://theworldnews.net/gb-news/people-s-palace-goes-on-virtual-reality-journey-to-amazon-s-xingu-people-with-horniman-museum-installation
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oqg0ucjga3upvg9/AABePLMraU4CnCbAom1VhDg7a?dl=0
 
Description Press articles about the pilot VR experience of the Kamukuwaka Cave 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Two articles published on the Kamukuwaka VR pilot project:

The audience Agency, VR Kamukuwaka - 02/01/2023 https://www.theaudienceagency.org/resources/case-in-point-digital-futures-for-xingu-indigenous-knowledge
BBC World Service, Pirata about Kamukuwaka VR- January 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct37sl
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct37sl
 
Description Press coverage for the VR experience of the Cave of Kamukuwaka 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Press coverage was achieved in five publications during 2022, taking the project to wider public audiences:

https://www.screendaily.com/news/cphdox-reveals-nine-immersive-projects-for-in-person-cphlab/5167795.article https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63537416
https://www.dailyadvent.com/news/40e49511cc890c5cf87bf115343b1872-CPHDOX-reveals-nine-immersive-projects-for-inperson-CPHLAB Latam cinema.com - Kamukuwaka, 11 March 2022
https://www.latamcinema.com/xr-proyectos-latinos-fortalecen-su-recorrido-internacional/
Where the Leaves Fall, Yula + Pirata, Nov 2022 https://wheretheleavesfall.com/explore/article-index/xingu-resistance/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Public taster of the pilot Kamukuwaka Cave VR experience at Copenhagen DocFest 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Six research team members [Pirata Waura, Mafalda Ramos, Thiago Jesus, Yula Rocha, Alejandro Romero Hernandez, Nathaniel Mann] participated in the Copenhagen Film Festival (DocFest) CPH:LAB Inter:Active Symposium, which ran as part of the CPH: DOX film festival (March 23-April 3). The Kamukuwaka VR experience was selected as one of 9 immersive projects exploring the subject of 'Transformations'.

The team presented a 5-minute pitch for the VR experience of the Kamukuwaka Cave to a full theatre of industry professionals. An afternoon showcase allowed attendees to test the pilot VR experience with headset.

The 4 team members then participated in two half days of meetings with the film/VR industry (producers, distributors etc) to hear feed back on the pilot VR experience and pointers on the next phase of development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://cphdox.dk/the-sacred-cave-of-kamukuwaka/
 
Description Raising the Roof: Voices for the Amazon - COP26 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Organised by NGO Global Canopy in partnership with The New York Times, 'Climate Hub: Raising the Roof - Voices for the Amazon' was an evening of talks, music and films about the Amazon rainforest and the role of Indigenous peoples in its survival and future prosperity. The event hosted a special screening of the OCA RED video installation and a talk with PPP Associate Artist Takumã Kuikuro. The event at the NYT Climate Hub was attended by 80 guests and streamed live for an audience of over 380 people.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C2LjO6sLkM
 
Description Research team attendance at COP27, Egypt 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Research team members Thiago Jesus and Shirley Djukurna Krenak attended the COP27 Climate talks to participate in policy dialogues about Indigenous people's protagonism within international solutions to the climate crisis. (Thiago Jesus's participation was funded by Queen Mary University of London). Press coverage was secured, and interviews were recorded with other participants of the COP27 talks.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2022/pr/queen-mary-tackles-sustainability-and-environmental-challe...
 
Description Screening of two short films for the staff of FCDO/ Forest Unit. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The screening was part of the ECHOES Indigenous Film Festival curated by Brazilian filmmakers Takumã Kuikuro, Graciela Guarani and Ziel Karapotó in 2023 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. The festival focused on the contemporaneity of Indigenous culture and its alternative aesthetically representation through audio-visual arts.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/echoes-indigenous-film-festival-ica-london/
 
Description Showcase of the Kamukuwaka Cave VR pilot experience at UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The VR prototype was showcased at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, in December 2022, during the official High-level launch event of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages where Indigenous leaders, investors and UN member states/diplomats had a chance to experience a taster of the Kamukuwaká VR.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-celebrates-international-decade-indigenous-languages
 
Description Sixteen media articles about "Indigenous Research Methods" seminar in Rio de Janeiro 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Sixteen articles and interviews, including coverage on Radio Brasil Atual, the site of the Federal Government's department for indigenous people, Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil, and various blogs for indigenous activism.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.dropbox.com/s/ffsgqmdodby2x3y/CLIPPING%20FINAL%20SEMINARIO%20INDIGENA.pdf?dl=0
 
Description Talk with Indigenous filmmakers at the ICA 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Screening of 18 short filmes + Q&A sessions with Indigenous curators/filmmakers
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description The Xingu Indigenous Occupation - COP26 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact PPP produced 'The Xingu Indigenous Occupation' at the Landing Hub in Glasgow: a day of films, conversations, music and workshops with the Kuikuro artists during COP26. The programme included two Kuikuro language workshops with Yamalui Kuikuro (attendance: 50 people), a screening session of Takumã Kuikuro's films (attendance: 30 people), a conversation between Takumã Kuikuro and Professor Paul Heritage on indigenous filmmaking (attendance: 30 people), and the panel 'Creative Climate Connections between indigenous activists and youth in the UK', a PPP project in partnership with Dirty Protest Theatre funded by the AHRC (attendance: 23 people and 137 online via live streaming).
PPP's Xingu Occupation in Glasgow was featured in The Herald Magazine.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.thesustainableglasgowlanding.com/thelandinghub/indigenous-occupation
 
Description What it means to make Indigenous cinema - ECO-nversations podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A podcast hosted by PPP's communications manager Yula Rocha for the podcast ECO-nversations in May 2023. Guests were the curators of the Indigenous Film Festival ECHOES: Graciela Guarani, Takuma Kuikuro and Ziel Karapoto. In this episode, they discuss what it means to make Indigenous cinema and what is next for Indigenous filmmakers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Xingu Village 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 'Xingu Village' experience at the Horniman Museum invited its audience 'to embark on an immersive journey into the heart of Brazil and visit the Ipatse village which is home to the Kuikuro indigenous people of the Xingu.' And, in doing so, to gain a 'rich understanding' of the day to day life, environment, myths and storytelling, dance, graphism, decorative painting, crafts and cultural practices of another people. The result of a research project led by People's Palace Projects at Queen Mary, University of London and a number of partners including the Horniman and the Kuikuro Indigenous Association of the Upper Xingu, the 'experience' piloted and tested the notion of whether the traditional museum gallery experience might be enhanced and augmented through a curated interplay between a series of VR/AR tools and traditional Kuikuro objects and artefacts. Beginning with a blaze of coloured 'tongues' of wool, emerging from the mouth of one of the Xingu tribe and threading their way across the atrium, the 'experience' offered visitors a multi-sensory insight into another culture. An affecting metaphor for the different 'languages' through which we process our understanding of the world, these threads drew us into a journey of discovery. Prefaced by an introduction by Paul Heritage from Queen Mary, we were then invited to meet, and follow, singer and performer, Yamalui Kuikuro, into a darkened tunnel where we began to encounter the world of the Kuikuro as we made our way through the sounds and noises of the Brazilian rain forest. Emerging into the 'Ipatse village' as created for us by Takumã Kuikuro's 3D projected film, we then came face to face with the life and ways of its inhabitants, not only through the objects and artefacts chosen by the Kuikuro to represent their culture, but by engaging, through interaction with virtual reality headsets and iPads, with the stories of the people who had selected them.
The installation took place at the Horniman Museum on 15th & 16th December 2018 and was fully booked. It was visited by 207 visitors.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/events/xingu-village