ExhibitionApril 26, 2024· By Christina Chirouze Montenegro
SHAMANIC VISIONS. The Arts of Ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazonia. Quai Branly Museum
Some exhibitions, by the simple fact of existing, are already an event. CHAMANIC VISIONS is one of them. The fact that the Musée national du Quai Branly, a step away from the Eiffel Tower, devotes half a year of its exhibition program to the arts derived from ayahuasca, a substance whose consumption is still illegal in France.
Through the didactic narration of the curator, ethnologist David Dupuis, the public is invited to enter the fascinating universe of Amazonian culture. From the beginning of the exhibition, the icaros, ceremonial chants of activation, accompany the experience as we discover the range of expressions, artisanal and artistic, derived from the ceremonies with the "liana of the dead". The kenés, symmetrical geometric drawings of the Shipibo-Conibo, refer to the mythological serpent. They have been depicted on their bodies, on fabrics, or on ceramic vessels since ancient times; and more recently, in pieces of contemporary creation: the fauna of ceramist Celia Vásquez Yui, for example, made with clay from the Amazon region; or the embroidered scenes on textile by Chonón Bensho. Likewise, between pieces of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary works that reintroduce their language, there are also more freely expressive pieces, such as those of Pablo Ameringo (1938-2009), a tutelary figure of visionary painting in the Peruvian Amazon, whose "shamanic" art was one of the first to transcend borders in 1990; or the wooden sculptures of the ONANYATI school... but also the interpretation, from the West, of the psychedelic visions, such as the virtual reality experience proposed by the filmmaker Jan Kounen.
Thus, without being an apology for the "consumption" of ayahuasca, this exhibition is a way to better understand the cultural value of the plant for the peoples of Amazonia, far from the vogue phenomenon started half a century ago by the Beat generation. An exhibition that honors the purpose of the museum: to promote dialogue between cultures ... by observing how, and why, a drink banned in France, can be elevated, in other contexts, to the rank of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Through the didactic narration of the curator, ethnologist David Dupuis, the public is invited to enter the fascinating universe of Amazonian culture. From the beginning of the exhibition, the icaros, ceremonial chants of activation, accompany the experience as we discover the range of expressions, artisanal and artistic, derived from the ceremonies with the "liana of the dead". The kenés, symmetrical geometric drawings of the Shipibo-Conibo, refer to the mythological serpent. They have been depicted on their bodies, on fabrics, or on ceramic vessels since ancient times; and more recently, in pieces of contemporary creation: the fauna of ceramist Celia Vásquez Yui, for example, made with clay from the Amazon region; or the embroidered scenes on textile by Chonón Bensho. Likewise, between pieces of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary works that reintroduce their language, there are also more freely expressive pieces, such as those of Pablo Ameringo (1938-2009), a tutelary figure of visionary painting in the Peruvian Amazon, whose "shamanic" art was one of the first to transcend borders in 1990; or the wooden sculptures of the ONANYATI school... but also the interpretation, from the West, of the psychedelic visions, such as the virtual reality experience proposed by the filmmaker Jan Kounen.
Thus, without being an apology for the "consumption" of ayahuasca, this exhibition is a way to better understand the cultural value of the plant for the peoples of Amazonia, far from the vogue phenomenon started half a century ago by the Beat generation. An exhibition that honors the purpose of the museum: to promote dialogue between cultures ... by observing how, and why, a drink banned in France, can be elevated, in other contexts, to the rank of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Gallery
