September 13, 2021

CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia Opening

This year's festival edition CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia opens at Kaserne Basel on September 29.

After keynote speeches by Alessandra Korap Munduruku, human rights activist and leader of the Indigenous Munduruku community in Brazil, and Beat Jans, president of the Basel-Stadt government, CULTURESCAPES opens with the Swiss premiere of "La Luna en el Amazonas” (The Moon in the Amazon) by Colombian company Mapa Teatro.

The latest production of Mapa Teatro, the laboratory for transdisciplinary artistic work, created by the Colombian-Swiss directors Heidi and Rolf Abderhalden, is based on a real event and raises uncomfortable questions. The play builds a connection between the end of the 19th century, when when an Indigenous community deliberately isolated itself in the face of the violent intrusion of settlers in its territory in the Colombian Amazon, and the present times. The search for the existence of isolated Indigenous communities is carried out by Mapa Teatro in the same way that quantum physicists trace the tiny particles that make up the universe, or that astronomers try to determine the existence of planets in other galaxies. When direct contact is impossible, the gaze must be directed towards the forces and vibrations in the surrounding space. Scientific and fictional texts, visual material, contemporary testimonies, electronic sounds, and live music come together in this new work co-produced by CULTURESCAPES.

Afterwards, we will party with tropical bass from Berlin. La By'le pour together baile funk, afro-house, and hip-hop, and spice up their energetic style mix with a splash of German, French, and Portuguese vocals. As active members of Berlin's QTBIPOC+ rooted in the Global South, La By'le acoustically support the bridge CULTURESCAPES builds between Central Europe and the Amazon.

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