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SHAMANIC VISIONS - Ayahuasca Arts in the Peruvian Amazon - Exhibit Info & Tickets
From 11/14/23 - 05/26/24
The exhibition explores contemporary issues linked to the relationships between hallucinatory images and iconographic productions, based on the case of ayahuasca.
If ayahuasca – literally “creeper of the dead” in Quechua – has fascinated the Western world for only half a century and its popularization by the Beat Generation, this hallucinogenic drink occupies a central place in the social life of many indigenous societies in the Amazon. Western.
Traditionally ingested in a shamanic context, mainly for therapeutic or divination purposes, this “psychedelic” substance is also closely linked to artistic creation. The “visions” or hallucinations it induces are often presented as a prime source of inspiration by indigenous artists from the Peruvian Amazon.
The exhibition provides an overview of the different contemporary modes of representation of these “visionary images” induced by ayahuasca. From the geometric and refined iconography of the Shipibos-Konibos to the literary (William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg) and audiovisual (Jan Kounen) productions of the 20th and 21st centuries, it offers a true dive into an art under influence.
CINÉMA VISIONNAIRE (Visionary Cinema)
This screening-debate cycle, organized by David Dupuis and Elise Grandgeorge as part of the exhibition “Shamanic Visions. Ayahuasca Arts in the Peruvian Amazon” (November 14, 2023 – May 26, 2024), explores the relationship between the “visionary images” perceived during the hallucinogenic experience and audiovisual productions (fictional or experimental cinema, documentary film, etc.).
Within indigenous societies of the Americas, the use of substances described by Western medicine as “hallucinogens” is often the subject of real institutionalization. Hallucinogens then play a significant role in many areas: determination of social position (through their use during shamanic and warrior initiations), therapeutic practices or establishment of relationships with the dead, ancestors and spirits. In many indigenous societies, the ritual consumption of these substances is also closely linked to aesthetic production. The “visions” induced by the psychotropic beverage ayahuasca are thus frequently presented by the peoples of western Amazonia who use it as the main source of inspiration for their aesthetic productions, an assertion which has never ceased to question enthusiasts. art and anthropologists.
Long confined to the Native American world, the ritualized use of hallucinogens has benefited from significant transnational diffusion since the second half of the 20th century. Reinvested by the pioneers of the counterculture and the psychedelic movement, these practices have become for many Westerners vectors of political emancipation, alternative therapies or new forms of religiosity, but also of artistic experimentation, particularly cinematographic.
This screening-debate cycle aims to explore the contemporary issues of the relationship between the “visionary images” perceived during the hallucinogenic experience and audiovisual productions (fictional or experimental cinema, documentary film) while addressing the dynamics which presides over the contemporary reclassification of so-called “hallucinogenic” substances (shamanic tourism, new religiosities, medicalization, etc.).
<p>Panshin Beka lives on the banks of an Amazonian river. She is going to have a baby soon. One morning, she feels sharp pains. Now she must brave a harsh journey with her husband and grandmother to get help.</p>
<p>The secrets about unlocking the mysteries of consciousness by plant-drugs. The related chances and risks involved in this shamanism.</p>
<p>Mike Blueberry, the Marshall of Palomito, tries to preserve the precarious balance existing between the new immigrants and the Native Americans – at the risk of having no place to call his own. But everything gets turned on its head the day a mysterious killer, Wally Blount, burns the town down and stirs up past memories… He’s searching for ‘treasure’ belonging to the Indians. With Runi, his shaman ‘brother’, alongside, Blueberry sets out to track Blount down. But in the heart of the sacred mountains, Blueberry must also wrestles with his inner demons if he’s to set himself free.</p>
<p>A visionnary experience through the realms of the medicinal plants, led by indigenous Shipibo traditional healer in the amazon rainforest. This mind blowing experience is a voyage through one of the most mysterious spiritual practices on the planet: Ayahuasca, the vine of the soul, and how to find your inner space. Experience the magic and healing power of ayahuasca.</p>
<p>Banned substances such as LSD and psilocybin from magic mushrooms are seen as hope in the treatment of depression and addiction. Scientists all over the world are currently researching their healing potential as part of a therapy.</p> <p>After their discovery by the hippie movement in the 1960s and 70s, the substances disappeared from research. But in the meantime, their potential is being explored again in numerous studies. One of the largest worldwide, with 144 patients, is currently taking place at the Charité in Berlin and the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim.</p> <p>The search for new treatment approaches for depression is desperate, because more than a third of the people suffering from depression cannot be helped with either antidepressants or standard therapies; they are considered therapy-resistant. Lia and Andreas, for example, are among them, and they have high hopes for the new treatment method.</p> <p>Psychedelics are known to reduce defence mechanisms of the psyche and can thus act as a door-opener to deeply hidden traumas, allow access to repressed feelings and thus initiate a healing process. This is the approach of psychiatrist Peter Gasser in Switzerland, who has been allowed to administer psychedelics with an exemption since 2014. At the University of Amiens, a team of researchers is investigating their potential in alcohol addiction.</p> <p>However, it is important not to lose sight of the possible risks and side effects of the substances in the midst of all this hope. Further studies still need to be conducted.</p>
<p>A new religion was born at the beginning of the century in the State of Acre in Bresil in the middle of the rubber boom. It was named Santo Daime after a drug which plays a central part in it. It combines catholic religious rites with African condomblé spirit dances and the hallucinogenic customs of the Amazonian Indians. In the State of Acre today this cult concerns 15 % of the population.</p>