Since its founding by Francesca von Habsburg in 2002, Vienna-based Thyssen-Bornemiza Art Contemporary (TBA21) has had a strong focus on artistic projects directed at social and environmental concerns, often bringing together institutions and people that would likely never meet under “normal” circumstances. In its new show and symposium “Aru Kuxipa” (“Sacred Secret”), TBA21 introduces the public to one of its perhaps most multi layered ventures so far, conducted with Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto in collaboration with spiritual leaders and artists from the Huni Kuin, an indigenous people living by the Jordão river in Brazil.Neto, who has made a name for himself with sensuous architectonic interventions that often combine scents and textiles to create immersive, interactive sculptures, has been in close contact with the Huni Kuin for some years now, increasingly opening his practice to their philosophy and culture. At his first large solo show in neighboring Germany's Arp Museum earlier this year, for example, he invited members of the ethnicity to accompany him for a ritualistic blessing of an Arp sculpture.The upcoming exhibition and symposium at TBA21 in collaboration with Kunsthalle Krems now put the focus entirely on this collaboration and relationship in what the institution calls a “pioneering experiment,” creating a “zone of encounter with our ‘ancestral futures,’ an investigation of the teachings of plants, and the spiritual nature of being.” The kupixawa, a “communal space of gathering, sheltering shamanic rituals, celebrations, and individual contemplation,” features works by Neto from the TBA21’s collection in a dialogue with Huni Kuin culture in the form of music, songs, drawings, weavings, rituals, herbaria, the use of medical and sacred plants, and everyday objects.With this approach, TBA21 aims to not only initiate a new discourse but also to propose a new form of exhibiting indigenous knowledge, art, and spirituality. Rather than curating the event from Vienna, the exhibition was developed in situ on the Huni Kuin’s territory, in what seems an equal partnership between Neto and the “real humans” as the people’s name would translate to in English. “This exhibition is attempting to draw a consensus between different creative impulses, and sensitize an audience which is increasingly interested in work that is informed by other practices,” Francesca von Habsburg explained in a statement, “this new body of work transcends the conceptual framework laid down by previous generations, and allows the art to flow into a narrative that shares its concerns to a public yearning to be further sensitized about issues that affect us all, not just in remote localities in which they were born.”“Ernesto Neto and the Huni Kuin Aru Kuxipa. Sacred Secret,” June 25-October 25, 2015, TBA21 Vienna; click here for more info about the program.Ernesto Neto and the Huni Kuin ~ Aru Kuxipa | Sacred Secret - Parque Fundo do Segredo from TBA21 on Vimeo.
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