WAK`A

Curatorial Project 2021-2023

Neo-extractivism, Sacredness & Deep Listening

Wak’a is a sacred body / territory that concentrates natural energy. It manifests itself in the form of mountains, lakes, rocks, etc. They are elements of energy regulation that accumulate cosmic, telluric, feminine and masculine energies. Through these wak’as the amautas, laramas, yatiris, (doctors and wise men) spiritually guide their community to communicate with Pacha (Space-time, as an inseparable unit).
The Wak’as in our current world would become nodes of connection, they are respected, and can mark the boundary between the territory of the members of the communities and the territory of the Wak’as, a space where wild fauna and flora live.

Extractivism- neo-extractivism
The human footprint caused by extractivism in Bolivia, focusing on the history and present of the Cerro Rico de Potosí silver mine and the present and future of the largest lithium salt deposit on the planet, located in the Salar de Thunupa.

The actions and consequences of silver mining have radically reshaped the landscape and life in the area during the last five centuries. At present, the desert territory Salar de Thunupa does not suffer the impact of large-scale mining, however, the national and international interest in the exploitation will have an impact on the following decades.

COMPIIINDIVM SONANDES

Bolivia YIIIAR Journey

Λιθίον

Sacredness

The silver and lithium deposits are preceded by narratives related to the Wak`as. The communities consider these sites sacred spaces provided with vital energy, capable of punishing those who desecrate their integrity. The relationship between sacred territory, punishment and suffering present a constant in the narrative of local community members. This complex way to understanding about looting and desecration explains without surprise the bitter life of the miners and warns about a punishment for human and non-human life that inhabits there. Paradoxically, the wak’as and their resources guarantee the management of technology and telecommunications that governs the current lifestyle of humanity.

For a better experience, we suggest listening with headphones

EXO|ENDO

It is an immersive installation, 3D audio and virtual reality experience.

A collaboration between scientists, miners, anthropologists, historians, engineers and artists from Bolivia and Germany.

The first draft proposes a diptych approach between both territories and the impact of the human footprint on the soundscape, with emphasis on the voice of the Andean worldview and its local communities.

Presented in Zentrum für immersive Medienkunst, Musik und Technologie. October 2021. Leipzig-Deutschland.
Presented in Sonic Matter. December 2021. Zurich-Switzerland.

EXO:ENDO Witnessing Mining

Exhibition preview

TIKNU I Tíhnu

Zenith.
Point of intersection of the celestial vault with the vertical that passes through the observer.

Dual channel composition (extract) from Aerial footage of anthropogenic landscapes from mining activities.

Cerro Rico and Pulacayo silver mines extracted during more than 500 years and model lithium plant in Llipi.

April 2021. Potosi, Bolivia

EXO:ENDO Witnessing Mining VR Experience

Researchers and communities in Bolivia

Documentaries and audiovisual essays produced during the communal dialogue from December 2020 to December 2021

Lluvia y recuerdos de la mina en Pulacayo

https://sonandes.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Lluvia-y-recuerdos-de-la-mina-en-Pulacayo.wav

Caracoles Silver Mine Cerro Rico

Las cuevas de Portland en Pulacayo

Amuki IV. Llanque 2021

Muro de Piedras

Relato Wak´a

The Third Body: Andes and Alps

During 2022-2023 our research expanded its exploration to another high altitude location, the Swiss Alps.

The similarities and differences between the two territories that share the presence of large mountain ranges. We focused on the relationship that the inhabitants establish with extraction of resources and the sacredness that surrounds these mountainous bodies.

From Andean practices it was very easy to identify the wak`as in Bolivia. However, it was more complex to identify them in the Alps. Not only because the word is very typical of the Andean region, but also because the processes of extirpation of idolatries in the Alps have meant, together with the Enlightenment, a great philosophical and cultural change that has ended up annulling the relationship that people established with the mountains and that which was not human.

An important clue to determine the wak`as was the pilgrimage to the glaciers in times of drought. The inhabitants went to the glaciers and through a small ceremony they asked for rain.

This is the trace that remains of the animistic relationship between humans and mountains. The pagan myths have practically disappeared and little is known of the relationship that people established with the wak`as.

Today the mountains are seen as playgrounds in which humans conquer nature or at least organize it. The landscape and the water from the glaciers, which are one of Switzerland’s prominent resources, are exploited.

WAK`A

Sacredness