Cecilia Vicuña's Minga for the Sea at Kunstnernes Hus
The exhibition 'Minga for the Sea' by Cecilia Vicuña marks her inaugural major solo showcase in the Nordic region, taking place at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo. It features large-scale quipu sculptures crafted from raw wool, which critique the Norwegian industrial exploitation of marine resources. This exhibition draws parallels between the struggles faced in Chile and Norway, spotlighting the Red de Mujeres Originarias por la Defensa del Mar, a collective of Chilean women opposing Norwegian salmon farms, and the Sámi-led group Redd Repparfjord, which resists toxic waste dumping in Finnmark. Vicuña’s quipus, a revival of pre-Columbian communication methods over the past 50 years, include 'Quipu Womb (The Story of the Red Thread),' previously exhibited at Documenta 14 in 2017. The installation features handmade items, drawings, photographs, poems, duodji, and videos, accompanied by a traditional song emanating from the wool, while wall texts reveal that whales are starving due to krill being used as feed for farmed salmon. The term 'minga' signifies collaborative efforts towards a shared goal.
Key facts
- Cecilia Vicuña's first major solo exhibition in the Nordics is at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo.
- The exhibition features monumental quipu sculptures made of raw wool.
- Quipu is a pre-Columbian communication system using knots on threads, lost due to colonial repression.
- Vicuña has worked on reviving quipus for over fifty years.
- Her installation 'Quipu Womb (The Story of the Red Thread)' was exhibited at Documenta 14 in Athens in 2017.
- The exhibition criticizes Norwegian exploitation of natural resources, focusing on salmon farming in Chile and mining in Norway.
- Chilean women's collective Red de Mujeres Originarias por la Defensa del Mar opposes Norwegian salmon farms along the Chilean coastline.
- Sámi-led action group Redd Repparfjord fights dumping of toxic waste from a copper mine into Repparfjord in Finnmark.
- Texts on the walls state that whales are starving because krill is used to feed farmed salmon.
- The exhibition includes handmade objects, drawings, photos, duodji, poems, and videos.
- A recording of a traditional song plays from within the wool quipu.
- The title 'minga' translates to collaborative work for a common purpose.
Entities
Artists
- Cecilia Vicuña
- Hans Ragnar Mathisen
Institutions
- Kunstnernes Hus
- Documenta 14
- Red de Mujeres Originarias por la Defensa del Mar
- Redd Repparfjord
- Venice Biennale
Locations
- Oslo
- Norway
- Chile
- Athens
- Greece
- Finnmark
- Repparfjord
- Sápmi
- Venice
- Mapuche
- Sámi
- Scandinavia
- Nordic region
- Global South
- Global North