Ursula Biemann

In the face of the momentous urgency of maintaining the Earth’s biodiversity and the knowledge that has co-evolved with it, artist Ursula Biemann has been working with the Inga people of southwest Colombia since 2018 to co-create an Indigenous university in the Andean Amazon. Devenir Universidad engages in this collaborative process, in which different knowledge systems are brought into dialogue with the goal of reversing the cultural loss and epistemic damage caused by colonial and extractive regimes.
As part of Devenir Universidad, the video work Vocal Cognitive Territory (2022) brings to The Laboratory of the Future this conversation about the persistence and sovereignty of Indigenous knowledge of the rainforest. In recordings made by members of the community, key figures from the Inga people tell their territorial history and propose distinct kinds of learning for their future generations.

Authorial collaborators
Hernando Chindoy Chindoy (Legal Representative of the Inga People); María Belén Saez de Ibarra (Curator, Art Museum UNAL); Waira Nina Jacanamijoy, Flora Macas (Inga Education Team); Ivan D. Vargas Roncancio (Legal Researcher of Nature Rights)
Technical collaborators
Richard Décaillet, Yann Décaumont (Camera)
With the additional support of
Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia