refik anadol collaborates with brazil's yawanawa tribe on amazon rainforest data sculpture

[Judi Lynn]

REFIK ANADOL COLLABORATES WITH THE YAWANAWÁ COMMUNITY

New media artist Refik Anadol collaborates with the Yawanawá community, indigenous to the Brazilian Amazon, on a multilayered digital artwork that responds to real-time data from the rainforest. Commissioned by Impact One, Winds of Yawanawá is composed of a central video artwork and a collection of 1,000 unique and dynamically evolving NFT data paintings. Anadol co-created the generative AI series together with the communities of Aldeia Sagrada and Nova Esperança, immersing viewers in a visual rendition of one of Earth’s most vital ecosystems – the Amazon rainforest – while highlighting the importance of protecting it. Each data painting harnesses weather data from the tribe’s village, including wind speed, gusts, direction, and temperature, which is then merged with works of young Yawanawá artists, resulting in a mesmerizing play of traditional shapes and colors of data pigmentation.

Refik Anadol, Yawanawá Chiefs Nixiwaka and Isku Kua, along with their family members Ninunihu and Ykashahu Yawanawá, unveiled the project at Scorpios Mykonos earlier in July to kickstart the Encounters In Resonance summer art program. Proceeds from the sale of the NFTs go directly to the Yawanawá community as part of a fundraising initiative to support them in protecting their natural and cultural heritage.

WINDS OF YAWANAWÁ UNVEILED AT SCORPIOS MYKONOS


Curated in collaboration with HOFA Gallery (House of Fine Art) and M. Stahl, the In Resonance two-day event at Scorpios brought together Refik Anadol and members of the Yawanawá community to the Greek island of Mykonos. Chiefs Nixiwaka and Isku Kua led a prayer and musical performance of traditional songs together with Nixiwaka’s daughter Ykashahu and Ninunihu, granddaughter of the great medicine man Yawarani, while the video artwork kept playing in a loop, serving as the heart of the event. To accompany and explain this historic initiative, CEO of Impact One Mikolaj Sekutowicz hosted a panel discussion to discuss the significance of the cross-industry collaboration from which the artwork emerged, and how Web3 can be used an additional driver of global stewardship of natural ecosystems.

‘I am a part of the new generation that has witnessed the new technologies arriving within our territories,’ Yawanawá Chief Isku Kua said while pondering the arrival of the new technologies to the Indigenous community. ‘We understood the need to adapt to these new instruments that you bring in order to adapt to this new reality. I don’t need to fight with my bow and arrows anymore. I only need to speak the same language as you. Who would have thought that indigenous people from the middle of the forest living in such a traditional way would today be launching an artwork with this artificial intelligence and all the technology it involves. It doesn’t make me and my people less Yawanawá or less indigenous. When I return back home I will be walking barefoot on the ground. I will continue to play in the river with my children and lighting my fire under the starry sky. But when I want to speak to you or to my brothers, I will take my phone and speak to whoever I want and continue protecting my forests in the same way. But now speaking the same language as you.’

More:
https://www.designboom.com/art/refik-anadol-brazil-yawanawa-tribe-amazon-rainforest-data-sculpture-scorpios-mykonos-07-30-2023/

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‘Winds of Yawanawa’ by Refik Anadol Integrates the Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Indigenous Community

Possible Futures
3 min read
·
Jul 21

Impact One was proud to initiate a first-of-its-kind collaboration between renowned new media artist Refik Anadol and the Yawanawá community from Acre, Brazil, unveiled in Mykonos on 13 July with Scorpios’ Encounters. Entitled Winds of Yawanawa, the series comprises a central artwork and a limited Genesis NFT collection of 1000 unique Data Paintings that harness weather data from the tribe’s village in the Amazon rainforest.

- click for image -

https://tinyurl.com/5vvw4a3d

Paintings of Yawanawá artists Nawashahu and Mukashahu
Each Data Painting is composed of a unique video with soundtrack, generated from the Winds of Yawanawa central artwork. The data includes wind speed, gusts, direction and temperature and merges with paintings by young Yawanawá sisters Nawashahu and Mukashahu, whose artworks form the visual inspiration of the series. Real-time weather data from Aldeia Sagrada flows into the central Winds of Yawanawa artwork and dictates its movement, making it a living and dynamically evolving representation of the Yawanawá identity and the community’s connection to their Amazonian territory, which is a fundamental ecosystem for all of humanity.

As the first project of the Possible Futures programme in collaboration with the Yawanawá, Winds of Yawanawa is a significant co-creation and cross-industry collaboration that maps a new model dedicated to the establishment of more holistic and equitable pathways to environmental sustainability. Winds of Yawanawa is a powerful intersection between emergent technologies and Indigenous cultural heritage, showcasing how decentralised platforms can support a more equitable future. The artwork is a testament to the potential of Web3 to drive positive change, and celebrates the Yawanawá people’s commitment to the preservation of their culture and environment.

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https://tinyurl.com/42vtaxm9

The NFT Data Paintings of Winds of Yawanawa were dropped as the Genesis collection of the newly created Yawanawa & Refik Anadol ledger, and minted with a special smart contract created to highlight the co-authorship of the community and to transparently show the NFT sales proceeds distribution. The Winds of Yawanawa artwork series is a first step to showcase the potential of Web3 technologies like blockchain and NFTs to facilitate new compensation models, decentralised economies, and tangible solutions for Indigenous autonomy and environmental protection. These technologies can be used to map, measure, safeguard, and regenerate forests, supporting conservation initiatives and local communities.

Proceeds of the sales of the artwork series go directly to Instituto Nixiwaka, an entity created by Yawanawa chiefs Nixiwaka, Putanny and Isku Kua, to represent the Yawanawá communities of Aldeia Sagrada and Nova Esperança. The funds will be deployed by Instituto Nixiwaka to support long-term initiatives for the protection of the Yawanawá territories and cultural heritage. These initiatives include building sustainable infrastructure for the village of Aleida Sagrada, preparations for the Indigenous Conferences taking place in the sacred village in October 2024 and developing an educational curriculum for the Isku Vakehu school in Nova Esperança.

More:
https://medium.com/@possiblefutures.one/impact-one-commissions-first-of-its-kind-artwork-titled-winds-of-yawanawa-f04c2b34c2bd



Refik Anadol

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Refik Anadol Headlines a New Cultural Program at Scorpios Curated by HOFA
Exhibition Announcements



July 13, 2023

Hesper Cane

The Mykonos-based creative hub, Scorpios, partnered with The House of Fine Art (HOFA) Gallery to launch In Resonance, a broad cultural summer program exploring the connections between contemporary art and music. In Resonance is part of the recently established platform Scorpio's Encounters, which emerged from an online magazine to a live, immersive experience.

The inaugural edition of In Resonance comprises a summer-long extensive program presenting works by notable generative artists, live musical performances, music collaborations, and limited digital art drops. Turkish-American multidisciplinary artist Refik Anadol is headlining the rich program at Scorpios with a series of his most recent artworks.



Possible Futures COP27, Camilla Coutinho for Impact One
Possible Futures COP27, © Camilla Coutinho for Impact One
Refik Anadol x The Yawanawa

Exploring and traversing the space between humans and machines, Refik Anadol will showcase an array of new works created in close collaboration with the Yawanawa Indigenous communities of Aldeia Sagrada and Nova Esperança from Brazil. The Yawanawa community comprises 1,200 people dispersed along the Gregório River in the Brazilian state of Acre, maintaining a traditional approach to living in harmony with nature. These protectors of the rainforest are simultaneously safeguarding multi-generational knowledge regarding medicine and agriculture and preserving their vibrant culture.

Anadol's project was powered by Impact One, an initiative focusing on sustainability and the environment that first collaborated with the Yawanawa community in 2021. Refik Anadol x The Yawanawa presents a continuation of Impact One's mission and represents a segment of their Possible Futures program. Both the artist and the initiative will divert all proceeds from the sale of the collection to the Yawanawa community and the perseverance of their legacy and culture.



More:
https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/refik-anadol-scorpios

[Pinback]

1. Amazing project!

Thank you for telling us about it.

[Judi Lynn]

2. So many unbelievably original ideas! "Amazing" seems a perfect choice. Thank you, Pinback.

Creative people seem to arrive from another realm altogether!

Thanks, a lot.