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)
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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.).
