DATE: WEDNESDAY 9TH OCTOBER

TIME: 7PM-10PM

LOCATION: BLOOMSBURY THEATRE​

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A Multimedia Performance and Immersive Sound Ritual led by Guarani and Kaiowá shamans from Brazil. 

 

“This is our Mba’ekuaa. Our Technology. You have your Mba’ekuaa, and we have ours.” - Guarani and Kaiowá Shaman Nhanderu Tadeu. 

 

How can sound shape planetary futures? Indigenous communities in Brazil understand sound as Mba’ekuaa or technology, which can have powerful effects on the world. In the current global context of biodiversity crisis and ecological collapse, Guarani and Kaiowá indigenous shamans are using sound to restore balance with nature. Their sacred instruments are described as their “wifi to the gods" where the sounds of the instruments open a portal between worlds.

 

This groundbreaking multimedia show draws together indigenous communities, electronic musicians, video mappers, immersive sound artists, anthropologists, computer scientists and innovation researchers, bringing diverse forms of technical knowledge into dialogue. 

 

Collaborating artists include: A Guy Called Gerald, Scott Hill, Kelvin Mbaretê, Matt Black, Christan Duka, Blanca Regina, Fabi Fernandes, Guarani and Kaiowá Shamans Nhandesy Roseli, Nhandesy Fausta and Nhanderu Tadeu, and multimedia researcher Raffaella Fryer-Moreira.

 

The work draws on a four-year partnership between the UCL Multimedia Anthropology Lab (UCL MAL), the Institute for the Development of Art and Culture (IDAC) and Guarani and Kaiowá indigenous communities in Brazil, which has developed a radically collaborative approach to preserving indigenous ancestral knowledge and experimenting with emerging technologies. Together, these projects aim to counter the historical exclusion of indigenous voices from both the narration of history and the imagination of collective planetary futures.

 

Wi-Fi to the Gods is the opening event of the Sounding Planetary Futures series taking place across UCL this autumn. Sounding Planetary Futures is a multimodal festival is coordinated by the UCL Multimedia Anthropology Lab (UCL MAL) in partnership with the Centre for the Anthropology of Sustainability (CAoS), the State University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS) and Amoenus. Through a dynamic programme of musical performances, panel discussions, workshops and immersive sound installations, these events invite London's diverse creative and research community to explore how Guarani and Kaiowá concepts of sound and technology can help rethink planetary futures.

 

This events programme and the projects it showcases has been generously supported by the British Museum's Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, UCL Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, UCL Research Institute of Collections, UCL Grand Challenges, UCL Global Engagement, UCL Institute of Advanced Studies Octagon Fund, IAS Music Futures, UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies and The Roddick Foundation.