AND IF I DEVOTED MY LIFE TO ONE OF ITS FEATHERS?
Curated by Miguel A. López
May 15 - September 26, 2021
Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
A joint exhibition of Kunsthalle Wien and Wiener Festwochen
"And if I devoted my life to one of its feathers?" writes the Chilean poet and activist Cecilia Vicuña in her 1971 poem Precarious. With this question, which Kunsthalle Wien and Wiener Festwochen have now chosen as the title for their joint project, Vicuña counters anthropocentric and hetero-patriarchal urges with healing and appreciation, reviving the aesthetic and spiritual bonds between human and non-human entities and worlds. In keeping with these aspirations, the exhibition curated by Miguel A. López reflects on the rationale of exploitation, the fast-paced mining of raw materials, and environmental destruction as a colonial legacy. It tells the story of indigenous struggles for collective survival and celebrates encounters defined by solidarity in their resistance to misogyny, imperialist violence, and state oppression. Some of the contributions are a specific response to the Covid-19 pandemic, not just as a health crisis, but also as one of ecological and social justice. And if I devoted my life to one of its feathers? combines works by more than 35 artists from around the world in order to initiate in Vienna a unique conversation about power, sovereignty, self-representation, and the reclaiming of a plurality of life choices.
Artists: Babi Badalov • Denilson Baniwa • Patricia Belli • Amoako Boafo • Anna Boghiguian • Victoria Cabezas • Quishile Charan • Manuel Chavajay • Chto Delat • Rosa Elena Curruchich • Annalee Davis • Vlasta Delimar • Jim Denomie • María Galindo & Danitza Luna • Nilbar Güreş • Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe • Hiwa K • Karrabing Film Collective • Germain Machuca • Daniela Ortiz • Prabhakar Pachpute • Amanda Piña • Roldán Pinedo / Shöyan Sheca • Sandra Salazar • Olinda Silvano / Reeshinjabe • SPIT! (Sodomite, Perverts, Inverts Together! / Carlos Maria Romero, Carlos Motta & John Arthur Peetz) • Sophie Utikal • Cecilia Vicuña • Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro • Anna Witt • Bartolina Xixa • Santiago Yahuarcani • Zapantera Negra • …
Curator: Miguel A. López
Miguel A. López (b. Lima in 1983) is a writer and researcher living and working in Lima. His work investigates collaborative dynamics and transformations in the understanding of and engagement with politics in Latin America in recent decades, as well as feminist and queer re-articulations of history from a Southern perspective.
*Jim Denomie's mural sized painting from 2017, Oz, The Emergence, is included in this exhibition.