Cecilia Vicuña

[Artist's statement about the films]

Featured Films

What is Poetry to You? (1980)
PARACAS (1983)
Pichi Paracas (1983)
SemiYa (2000)
Red Coil (2005)
Kon Kon (2010)
Muerte del Mar (2010)
Torn Sound / Sonido Rajado (2010)
La Lingua PichiParacas (2011)
Rio Mapocho (2010)
Kon Kon (2010)
Quipu Austral (2012)
Seed Song / Semiya (2015)
Kuntur Ko en el Mapocho (2015)
Cantos del Agua (2015)
Casa del Nos (2003-2015)
The Origin of Weaving (2015)
Messenger Lectures on the Evolution of Civilization (2015) Vicuñiana (2015)
The Book as Performance (2015)
Seed Song (2015)

¿Qué es para Ud la Poesía?

In this film the artist Cecilia Vicuña asks prostitutes, beggars and passersby "what is poetry to you?", in the city of Bogotá, Colombia l980.

Originally filmed in 16mm, transfer to video.

©copyright Cecilia Vicuña

Un film de Cecilia Vicuña
Música de José Pérez de Arce y Claudio Mercado
Cantos de Cecilia Vicuña
ORT:18 mins
New York, 1983

Animación tridimensional de un textil precolombino de dos mil años de antigüedad creado en la región Paracas/Nazca del Perú, actualmente en la colección del Brooklyn Museum de Nueva York. En esta obra, la artista recrea el universo poético del desierto transformado en jardín por sus antiguos habitantes.

Three-dimensional animation of a 2000 year old pre-Columbian textile created in the Paracas/Nazca region of Perú. The textile is now in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum of New York. In this work the artist brings back to life the poetic universe of the desert transformed into a garden by its ancient inhabitants. The original music was composed and performed especially for this work by José Pérez de Arce and Claudio Mercado along with chants by Cecilia Vicuña.

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile

Un performance con la Pichimuchina y Francisco Rios Araya durante la proyección del film Paracas de Cecilia Vicuña.

Gabriela Mistral, Galeria de Arte Contemporáneo
Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes
Gobierno de Chile
Marzo -Abril 2000
Filmacion de Norma Ramirez Arenas y Jorge Vicuña Lagarrigue, padres de la artista

Film by Geoffrey Jones
Cecilia Vicuña and Jane Rigler.
Four performances for sitelines, New York, 2005, sponsored by LMCC and Poet's House.

In this performances the artistpays homage to Gloria Anzaldúa's line“The serpent, mi tono, my animal counterpart...” (Borderlands 26).

A film by Cecilia Vicuña
(HD video, 54 min, Chile, 2010) 

In this documentary poem, Cecilia returns to Con Con beach, the birthplace of her art in Chile, where the sea is dying and an ancient tradition is being wiped out. Con Con, facing Aconcagua the tallest mountain in the Western hemisphere, has a cultural heritage going back thousands of years. Over centuries, the "sonido rajado", a powerful and unique sound emerged. Revisiting the site, she explores the connections between her art and the ancient music and oral traditions while witnessing to the ecological and cultural destruction of place.

Un film de Cecilia Vicuña
(HD video, 54 min, Chile 2010)

Poema documental autobiográfico donde Cecilia Vicuña regresa a Con cón, Chile, lugar de origen de su arte, donde el mar se está muriendo y las tradiciones locales desaparecen. Situado en la costa chilena, al pie del Aconcagua, la montaña más alta del hemisferio occidental, Con cón tiene un patrimonio cultural milenario. En esta zona evolucionó una forma musical única: el sonido rajado de los bailes chinos. Revisitando los sitios de una geografía sagrada olvidada, la artista explora las conexiones entre su arte y las antiguas tradiciones orales. En el proceso, su arte se hace testigo de la destrucción ecológica y cultural del lugar.

www.konkon.cl
www. ceciliavicuna.org

recorded in HD
Con con, Valparaíso y Caleu
Chile 2006-2009

copyright Cecilia Vicuña

Valparaíso - New York 2010

The sea is dying along the coast of Chile from overexploitation and pollution. Despite an agreement with the United Nations, trawlers are allowed to operate near the coast of Chile, day and night. They are killing the eggs of most sea species. The artisan fishermen, who have inherited a culture that goes back 10,000 years, have kept the sea alive through a spirtual relationship with her as the mother of life: "la mar". Their poetry and songs, their rituals and offerings are still being performed but their livelihood is in jeopardy. The artisan fishermen, who represent the majority of fishing related jobs, are going hungry and their sons cannot keep up the tradition. "Muerte del Mar" is an extra of the film "Kon Kon" by Cecilia Vicuña.

Este film es un homenaje a Gabriela Mistral, la poeta visionaria que escribió "La muerte del mar" en la década del cincuenta. El poema profetiza lo que está pasando en todo el mundo hoy. Cecilia Vicuña le regala el poema de Mistral a los pescadores artesanales de Chile central, para apoyar su lucha por sus derechos pesqueros y culturales. El mar se está muriendo en la costas de Chile, por la sobreexplotación y la contaminación. A pesar de un acuerdo firmado por Chile con las Naciones Unidas, en el que se compromete a prohibir los barcos de arrastre, estos operan en Chile liquidando las especies marinas y sus huevos. La pesca artesanal es una tradición de 10.000 años de antigüedad en las costas de Chile, que logró mantener la fertilidad del océano a través de una relación espiritual y poética de cantos y rituales con "la mar", que aún se realizan. Hoy en día los pescadores artesanales están siendo perseguidos y sus derechos arrebatados por las grandes corporaciones pesqueras. "La muerte del mar" (2006), es un extra del film Kon Kon, trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9KFOa...
www.ceciliavicuna.com

A conversation between José Pérez de Arce, Claudio Mercado, Gerardo Silva, and Cecilia Vicuña on sonido rajado/torn sound, an ancient form of music based on dissonant sound. This spiritual technology was designed to allow listeners and musicians to go into another state of consciousness. It was developed in the Andes in pre-Columbian times and continues to be performed in central Chile by the Bailes Chinos.

Una conversación entre José Pérez de Arce, Claudio Mercado, Gerardo Silva, y Cecilia Vicuña sobre el sonido rajado, una forma musical basada en el sonido disonante. Una tecnología espiritual especialmente diseñada para que los músicos y sus oyentes accedan a otros estados de conciencia. Fue desarrollada en los Andes durante la época precolombina y continúa siendo practicada hoy por los bailes chinos en Chile central.

links:

oysi.org
precolombino.cl/es/english/index.php
ceciliavicuna.org

A concert by Pichimuchina performing with Cecilia Vicuña during the projection of her film "Paracas" in La Ligua, an ancient pre-Columbian town of weavers, whose textile industry continues to thrive today. At the end of the concert, the audience joins in and performs along with Pichimuchina.

Filmed at the Museo La Ligua, in Chile, January 13th, 2011.

Concierto de la Pichimuchina con Cecilia Vicuña, durante la proyección de su film "Paracas" en La Ligua, un antiguo pueblo de tejedores precolombinos, cuya tradición textil continua vigente hoy. Al final del concierto, el público se une a los músicos, y todos tocan/bailan juntos.

Filmado en el Museo de La Ligua, Chile, 13 de enero, 201

On April 12th, 2012, Cecilia Vicuña and the Pichimuchina performed a ritual for the waters of the Mapocho River in Santiago Chile. This mighty river has dried up as a result of global warming and the privatization of water by corporations. The next day it rained and the river swelled for a few hours.
The performance took place outside of Galeria Patricia Ready, just before the opening of Aural, a solo exhibition by Cecilia Vicuña.
Aural was dedicated to Kauri Paqsa, the Inca child who gave his life to ensure the flow of the Mapocho River, many years ago. The removal of his body from its sacred burial ground at the birthplace of the river is regarded as the cause of the river's death.

© Cecilia Vicuña New York, NY 2012

A site specific installation by Cecilia Vicuña created for the 18th Biennale of Sydney (June 27th - Sept 16th 2012).

Located at Cockatoo Island on the Sydney Harbour, it is exposed to the wind and the elements, and is destroyed as time goes by. A recording of Cecilia's poems and chants emerges from four speakers playing non synchronously. These sounds join the soundscape at Cockatoo Island, creating a parallel web of sound. As people enter the Quipu and walk within it, they become the living knots. Quipu Austral, a poem in three languages, accompanies the installation. It is a prayer for the union of all.

Cecilia Vicuña gathers seeds in Colchagua, Chile, in the foothills of the Andes mountains, on May 28, 2015.

Cecilia Vicuña reuniendo semillas en Colchagua, Chile en la precordillera andina, el 28 de Mayo del 2015.

This film was created for the exhibition DUMP! MULTISPECIES MAKING AND UNMAKING, 27 June–20 September 2015, at Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark

AURA; Amy Balkin, et al.; Lothar Baumgarten; Mabe Bethônico; Bob Braine, Mark Dion & Alexis Rockman; Patty Chang; Delft University of Technology; Peter Fend; Fernando García-Dory; Jacqueline Goss; Tue Greenfort; Henning Knudsen & Anna Tsing; Dana Sherwood; Åsa Sonjasdotter; SPURSE; Kidlat Tahimik; Cecilia Vicuña; Paweł Wojtasik; The Yes Men

Curated by Elaine Gan, Steven Lam and Sarah Lookofsky

#semiya2015 
https://tagboard.com/semiya2015/231493

In this performance, Cecilia connects the Río Mapocho (Mapocho River) to Galería D21, in Santiago, the place where she performs with José Pérez de Arce. In this duet he sings her Divinations (one word riddles) composed for the guitarrón, a 25 string guitar, native of Chile, and she sings back her improvisations of the same divination in response to José's compositions.

Recorded at Galería D21 Proyectos de Arte, in Santiago, January 9, 2015, during the presentation of Cecilia Vicuña's LP Kuntur Ko distributed by Hueso Records.

Filmed and edited by Carolina Zuñiga.

link to the book (in the website) and to: https://soundcloud.com/hueso-records/10-kuntur-ko-water-condor-

Cecilia Vicuña invitó a varias artistas chilenas a realizar una improvisación vocal por el agua, haciendo un llamado a "resistir desde la belleza" el proyecto político que está llevando a la tierra a la destrucción ecológica. Chile ha estado sufriendo una sequía de varios años, producto del cambio climático, la deforestación y la privatización del agua en el país. El performance fue realizado con la participación de Camila Moreno Elgart, Camila Marambio, Norma Ramírez, Francisca Gili, Francisca Benítez, Francisca de la Riva, Josefina Echeñique, Francisca López Reyes, Ana María Baeza Carvallo y Sofía Encina Maureira.  

El performance se hizo eco del llamado realizado en Lima, durante la Conferencia sobre Cambio Climático COP20 en diciembre de 2014, donde las Naciones Unidas acordaron que cada país debía presentar propuestas concretas para controlar el cambio climático en la cumbre de Paris, octubre 2015.

Filmado en Galería Patricia Ready, in Santiago de Chile,14 de enero 2015 

Cecilia Vicuña invited a group of Chilean artists to perform a vocal improvisation calling to resist from beauty the political project that is leading the world towards ecological destruction. Chile has endured a drought of many years, caused by climate change, deforestation and the privatization of water. The artists who joined were: Camila Moreno Elgart, Camila Marambio, Norma Ramírez, Francisca Gili, Francisca Benítez, Francisca de la Riva, Josefina Echeñique, Francisca López Reyes, Ana María Baeza Carvallo y Sofía Encina Maureira.  

The performance was presented in the context of the failure of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Lima COP20, on December 2014 that called participating nations to come up with concrete proposals before the Paris Summit, October 2015. 

Filmed at Galería Patricia Ready, in Santiago de Chile, January 14, 2015

Film

For the exhibition Promoción Popular, at Centro Cultural Matucana 100

See also Promoción Popular: El lugar de la exposicion

The Origin of Weaving
A Performance at The Poetry Foundation, For: Dianna Frid and Cecilia Vicuña: A Textile Exhibition
Chicago, September 17, 2015

Segue Reading Series
Celebrating Cecilia Vicuña's Messenger Lectures on the Evolution of Civilization.
Zinc Bar, New York City
April 4, 2015

Kon Kon a film by Cecilia Vicuña
(SD video, 54 min, Chile, 2010)

In this documentary poem, Cecilia returns to Con Con beach, the birthplace of her art in Chile, where the sea is dying and an ancient tradition is being wiped out. Con Con, facing Aconcagua the tallest mountain in the Western hemisphere, has a cultural heritage going back thousands of years. Over centuries, the "sonido rajado", a powerful and unique sound emerged. Revisiting the site, she explores the connections between her art and the ancient music and oral traditions while witnessing to the ecological and cultural destruction of place.

www.konkon.cl
www.ceciliavicuna.org

Presentation of the book Vicuñiana by Meredith Gardner Clark at the Espacio Estravagario, Fundación Pablo Neruda. Santiago, Chile December 17, 2015.

With the participation of Marisol Vera, Macarena Ursua, and Magda Sepúlveda.

A performance by Cecilia Vicuña and Jen Bervin. Presented in the context of the exhibition THE BOOK UNDONE: THIRTY YEARS OF GRANARY BOOKS, Columbia University and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, as curated by Sarah Arkebauer and Karla Nielsen.

November 17, 2015
Butler Library, Kempner Gallery
Columbia University, NY
 

Cecilia Vicuña gathers seeds in Colchagua, Chile, in the foothills of the Andes mountains, on May 28, 2015.
Cecilia Vicuña reuniendo semillas en Colchacgua, Chile en la precordillera andina, el 28 de Mayo del 2015.