The Space Between. Visions of Indigenous Art Across the Globe
The Space Between is an exhibition that centers indigenous ways of being alongside science, astronomy and creation stories, the existence and re-existences, to explore the space between the celestial and the earthly, the tangible and intangible, and what embeds and weaves the human experience with our living and object kin of which we share this Earth. It aims at putting in common works that address essential issues being discussed today globally and that inhabit in different ways the space between modernity and First Nations either as neo-settlers, bridges, advocates and/or pioneers of the liberation of rooted aesthetics in their ancestral territories.
With the participation of: Aycoobo, Kaye Brown, Eyder Calambás Tróchez, Edgar Calel, Seba Calfuqueo, Concejo Ancestral Willka Yaku, Timothy Cook, Paula Nicho Cúmez, Pauliina Feodoroff, Brian Fuata, Nicholas Galanin, Estefanía García Pineda, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association, Tahuanty Jacanamijoy, Emily Karaka, Raelene Kerinauia Liddy (Lampuwatu), Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Mayunkiki, Bhenji Ra, Conrad Tipungwuti (Kamilowra), Columbiere Tipungwuti, Mama Clementina Tróchez Tombé, Phuyu Uma – Jenniffer Ávila Jordan, Wayilwan/Wailwan country and Isabella Moore, Mickey Wilson Fogarty, Pedro Wonaeamirri, Santiago Yahuarcani, Elvira Espejo Ayca y Ashley Perry.
Brazilian philosopher Ailton Krenak says, “Life traverses everything, traverses a stone, the ozone layer, the glaciers. Life goes from the oceans to the mainland, crosses from North to South, like a breeze, in every direction. Life is this crossing of the live organism of the planet in an immaterial dimension.” In that optic, The Space Between connects artists, researchers and communities from across the planet who are honoring and reimagining our relationships with the skies, lands and waterways, and inviting new collaborative ways of being and working together while signaling the care of the Common Home. The exhibition understands that it is not possible to reduce the indigenous world to contemporary art, and navigates the intercultural tensions between craft, science, music, ceremony, history and the space between modes of practice and thought.
At the same time, issues regarding land management, subsistence living, the rights and acknowledgement of all dimensions of the autonomy of Indigenous peoples, and how these actions and practices interweave with territorial and ancestral memories, climate science, creation stories and the current critical reality of the world at large, are at the core of the project. This demonstrates that rather than dispersed ideas and beyond the localized challenges, the disparities affecting communities worldwide have much in common: the legacy of colonialism, the objectification of life, and extractivism in all its forms have reached every corner of the world pushing us to the brink of collapse.
Paraphrasing the words of Colombian philosopher Arturo Escobar, the space between is also a transitional period and the weaving of designs and possible re-designs between the old paradigm and a new form of our relationship with the Earth that understands human beings as part of a wider form of life; what Krenak has called the ancestral future. It is this possibility, made up of diverse but complementary visions, that the exhibition aims at making possible: A place of reckoning, justice and demand, but also fertility, hope and collective construction taking place in a museum but signaling a larger vision. A reminder that the sooner we recognize the potency of our collective voices, the more chance we have of preserving that life. Because as Krenak has stated, “Either you listen to all the voices of all the other beings that inhabit the planet with you, or you make war on life on Earth.”
The Space Between opens with a performative symposium that addresses different experiences of Indigeneity and the visibility of Indigenous peoples in Central and South America in contrast with the experiences of Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the United States. The gathering at MAMM is providing alignment and solidarity to share support and foster these dialogues and collaborations.
Credits: The Space Between is a project conceived by Brook Garru Andrew for the Powerhouse Museum Parramatta, and this version is co-curated by Andrew, Emiliano Valdés, Chief Curator of MAMM, and Paschal Daantos Berry, Performance Curator at the Powerhouse, with Ana Ruiz, Junior Curator at MAMM, and advised by the Willka Yaku Ancestral Council. The exhibition design is by Cherie Schweitzer with an intervention by Tahuanty Jacanamijoy.
The Space Between is a co-production between the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and the Medellín Museum of Modern Art.
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