11 May - 22 August 2021
MUCIV - Museo delle Civiltà
Rome, Italy
Location, contact
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11 May - 22 August 2021
MUCIV - Museo delle Civiltà
Rome, Italy
Location, contact
General Curator: Rosa Jijón
Curator contemporary section: José de Nordenflycht
Technical curator: Nuria Sanz
Curator section archaeology: Donatella Saviola
Curator arts and crafts section: CIDAP (Centro Interamericano de Artesanías y Artes Populares)
IILA – Organizzazione internazionale italo-latino americana presents an unprecedented exhibition in Italy and Europe about the Qhapaq Ñan – The Great Andean Trail at the MUCIV – Museo Delle Civiltà in Rome, from November 20th, 2020.
Qhapaq Ñan – The Great Andean Trail is a thrilling tour through the Andean road system created by the Incas on the basis of Pre-inca infrastructure, that irradiate to six countries in Latin America for a total of more than 30,000 kilometers: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The Inca trail has been studied and researched by various disciplines (archaeology, engineering, history, anthropology) and represent a powerful means of communication among peoples. It still functions as a connector among communities and as a space of economic and cultural exchange, as it has been doing for centuries akin to the great consular roads of the Roman Empire. The trail crosses one of the world’s most extreme geographies, ranging from the 6000 mt high Andean peaks to dry deserts and rainforests, to the coasts.
The exhibition offers an unique occasion to know the various facets of the Qhapaq Ñan territory. The variety of issues dealt with reflects some of the Sustainable Development Targets of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. IILA – a UN observer – intends to contribute to the achievement of these targets with its projects in Latin America. Qhapaq Ñan – The Great Andean Trail offers a perspective on the promotion of sustainable growth, with focus on sustainable tourism, protection of communities, immaterial heritage and traditional knowledge, support to innovation, development of food security, and sustainable agriculture, cooperation among countries, archaeology, history, craftmanship, contemporary arts, photography.
The Qhapaq Ñan has been declared UNESCO World Heritage in 2014 after a complex process of cultural cooperation among six countries. This is why it represents a unique case of construction of a joint collective narrative. The whole process, carried out under the overview of Nuria Sanz, an outstanding expert on the issue and main promoter of the Qhapaq Ñan, is the result of the collaborative work of six Qhapaq Ñan secretaries and UNESCO.
Contemporary arts is put in dialogue with traditional knowledge, thus providing evidence that Qhapaq Ñan is a living heritage, that brings together the past, the present, a symbolic richness, that – together with the Andean cosmovision – has inspired the work of various artists such as Gracia Cutuli (Argentina), Joaquín Sánchez (Bolivia), Cecilia Vicuña (Chile), Gabriel Vanegas (Colombia), Estefanía Peñafiel Loaiza (Ecuador), Mariano León (Peru). The curator of this section of the exhibition is José de Nordenflycht, art critic and historian, expert in heritage and contemporary art production.
The visual chronicles by Chilean photographer Claudio Pérez, with his portraits of faces of the Qhapaq Ñan, will also be displayed as a contribution of contemporary documentary photography.
"2020 has been an exceptionally difficult, uncertain year - explains Rosa Jijón – and we are all aware of the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on cultural activities and the lives of those who work in the sector. The exhibition, originally scheduled for May of 2020, is only opening months later, following a number of changes, and without the South American artists, curators and technical experts being on hand. We felt the need to continue with the project, despite the difficulties and challenges to be faced, in the belief that making culture is a way of communicating and making the most of our heritage. We are convinced that this is the perfect time to give the city a chance to draw closer to South America, through the works and knowledge that we showcase at the MUCIV – Museo delle Civiltà, in an ongoing dialogue with the archaeological treasures of the Museo Preistorico ed etnografico Luigi Pigorini, all motivated by the need to strengthen relations between the cultural institutions of Rome, Italy as a whole and the IILA".
Following the closing of all museums on account of the Covid-19 health crisis, the exhibition opened together with the arrival of Jaime Nualart as the new Cultural Secretary of the IILA.
Exhibition venue:
MUCIV – Museo delle Civiltà
Piazza Guglielmo Marconi 8
00144 Rome
Italy
Location on map
Organizer:
IILA - Organización internacional ítalo-latino americana
Secretaría Cultural
Tel.: 06 68492. 225/246
Website | Email
Press office:
UC STUDIO, press(at)ucstudio.it
From press information by IILA.
Photo top: Staircase on the Yungas, Jujuy, Argentina. Section Santa Ana - Colorado Valley. Segment: Quebrada Grande – Las Escaleras. Photo: Victoria Ayelén Sosa, courtesy of ILLA.
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