DER "MAYA" ZUG
in collaboration with IQ BALAM - Juan José Chiriz Cuat and the activist group Recherche AG
Installation in the urban and digital space, Germany, 2022
The "Maya" Zug Project is a transdisciplinary and collaborative project that seeks to question the historical lens through which we perceive and define progress and its development.
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The exchange and research between myself and the Mayan scholar and indigenous leader IQ BALAM - Juan José Chiriz Cuat result in a symbolic image and story that reinterprets big neoliberal projects from an indigenous perspective. These mega-infrastructures, built in indigenous territories and financed by Western transnational corporations, reproduce and perpetuate colonial dynamics. This is the case with the 'Maya' Train, which is currently under construction in Mexico and funded by several European companies, including German ones. ​
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Listen to the story here:
Visit the website for more information: https://www.mayazugproject.com/
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During the exhibition ‘THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG - Räume für Aktivierung’ (Galerie M, Berlin, 2022), a program of public open-air events was presented to accompany the installation. The program included outdoor film screenings and informational evenings on the topic, which I curated in cooperation with the activist group Recherche AG and with the neighbourhood association BENN.
​Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe of Berlin, degewo, and the Commission for Artistic and Scientific Projects (KKWV) of the UdK Berlin, and supported by BENN - Berlin Entwickelt Neue Nachbarschaften.
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COLLABORATOR BIO: Juan José Chiriz Chat, Maya name IQ BALAM, is a Maya priest, activist and musician from the Maya Kaqchikel community. He is a researcher in ancestral knowledge and natural medicine who has studied 'Rights of Indigenous Peoples'. He is actively involved in transmitting knowledge of Mayan spirituality and preserving indigenous culture through various NGOs and local art academies. He has lectured nationally and internationally on topics such as Mayan cosmovision, ancestral knowledge, good living, and indigenous peoples' rights. He is also a member of inter-institutional state roundtables on indigenous peoples and climate change.
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