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LAB 2021-2022

THE SACRED CAVE OF KAMUKUWAKÁ

The brutal desecration of ancient Amazonian rock-art in the Xingu (Brazil), threatens the Wauja people’s living culture. A digital resurrection breathes new life into the vast cos-movision of stories, mythical spirits, rites, and rituals that underpin this remote Indigenous community’s connection with sacred landscapes of rivers and rainforests.
Imagine the sun so enraged with jealousy, that it sculpts a flock of birds from its own blood and sends them to kill your entire family. What would you do?
Generations ago this happened to our hero, Kamukuwaká. His response was so profound that it seeded indigenous cultures across the Xingu region (Brazilian Amazon). Kamukuwaká’s story was engraved into the walls of a cave, but in 2018 this rock-art was violently destroyed. The Wauja community invites you to join us to find out why. The Sacred Cave of Kamukuwaká is the story of the indigenous Wauja community, as told in immersive VR by the community, and directed by Wauja filmmaker Piratá Waura.
In a radical act of resistance, the Wauja led an international network to undertake a digital resurrection. This 3D restoration, allows Kamukuwaká’s stories to be retold in the virtual realm. Travel upriver towards the Sacred Cave, experience the stories and songs of the Apapaatai spirits who unite our community with the forests, witness the terrible destruction of the engravings, and unravel the complex web behind this act of violence: mining, industrial agriculture, logging. At a time of crucial relevance for both indigenous rights and environmental awareness, what sets Kamukuwaká apart from other “rock-art” projects is that forms part of a living culture.  The Sacred Cave of Kamukuwaká must now travel the world as a VR platform from which the Wauja can speak outside of Brazil, sharing our culture and activism. Together we must relearn about the crucial balancing of human, spiritual, and environmental needs.

THE TEAM

Piratá Waurá, Director, Community and Cultural liaison, Camera, Interpreter
Biography

Piratá Waurá is a historian, photographer, filmmaker of the Wauja community, and teacher at the Indigenous School of the Piyulaga village. Piratá is part of the AIT – (Tulukai Indigenous Association), whose mission is the preservation of the Wauja culture, its territory, forest and natural resources through cultural, artistic, environmental and sustainable development projects.

Alejandro Romero, Creative Technologist & VR Director
Biography

Alejandro Romero is a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and professor and director of masters at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR). Alejandro has a degree in computer engineering from the UCM, currently studying the doctoral program. He combines teaching with the development of experiences of extended realities (virtual, augmented and mixed reality) and video games in different artistic projects for clients such as the National Ballet of Spain, Radio Televisión Española (in collaboration with ARAN network), the Madrid City Council, among others.

Nathaniel Mann, Co-Director, Creative Producer, Sound Recordist & Designer
Biography

Nathaniel Mann is a composer, musician, sound artist and broadcaster. In 2018, under a British Council/PRSF Musician’s Residency, the British Sound-Artist and PPP Associate-Artist, Nathaniel Mann, spent a month with traditional musician Akari Waura in the Wauja village. They forged a friendship which has resulted in a BBC Radio 4 documentary, a CD release and multiple publications. More crucially, it opened networks through which the Wauja community could expand their platform beyond Brazil, and created the connections which lead to the digital restoration of Kamukuwaká. Nathaniel is a long- term collaborator with Factum Arte (Spain).

Mafalda Ramos, Site Producer & Community liaison
Biography

Mafalda lives in Brazil and works as archaeologist and scientific coordinator in heritage management projects devoted to indigenous cultural conservation. She specializes in the Upper Xingu region. Her cooperation with the Wauja began with the Kamukuwaká Cave. The collaborative work developed a relationship of trust and cooperation with the community. Since 2018, she collaborates with the Wauja and Factum Foundation in the documentation and reconstitution of the Kamukuwaká Cave as an ethno-archaeologist and mediator.