Curator Alfredo Villar counters Sebastião Salgado's idealized Amazon with Indigenous contemporary art at Cologne museum
Alfredo Villar has curated an exhibition titled 'The Future is Indigenous. Amazonian Visions and Struggles' at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, Germany, as a counterpoint to Sebastião Salgado's 'Amazônia.' This showcase, which runs until March 15, 2026, features works from Indigenous and Amazonian creators such as Gê Viana, Natália Tupi, Rodrigo Duarte, Paulo Desana, and Olinda Silvano. Villar challenges Salgado's depiction of the Amazon, offering a multifaceted, urban perspective that highlights cultural hybridity and neocolonization. Notable pieces include Viana's 'Paridade' collages, Tupi's documentation of urban Indigenous life, Desana's 'tribal futurism,' and Silvano's 'Nii Kené' textiles. The exhibition promotes Indigenous wisdom for tackling the ecological crisis and includes an educational initiative, drawing significant crowds.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'The Future is Indigenous. Amazonian Visions and Struggles' curated by Alfredo Villar at Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (Museum of Cultures) in Cologne, Germany.
- The show ran until March 15, 2026, as a critical counterpoint to Sebastião Salgado's 'Amazônia' exhibition at the same museum.
- Featured artists include Gê Viana, Natália Tupi, Rodrigo Duarte, Paulo Desana, Olinda Silvano, Andrés Cardona, Camilo Pachón, and Camilo Sandoval.
- Villar critiques Salgado's idealized, essentialist portrayal of the Amazon and Indigenous peoples as ahistorical and exoticized.
- The exhibition presents a contemporary, urbanized Amazon with works addressing extractivism, poverty, neocolonization, and cultural hybridity.
- Highlights include Gê Viana's 'Paridade' collages, Paulo Desana's neon tribal futurism, and the immersive 'Neón Chicha' installation.
- Olinda Silvano's 'Nii Kené' (Forest of Designs) was her first solo exhibition in a European museum.
- The show included an extensive educational program and was the first major exhibition of contemporary Amazonian art in a German museum.
Entities
Artists
- Alfredo Villar
- Sebastião Salgado
- Gê Viana
- Natália Tupi
- Rodrigo Duarte
- Paulo Desana
- Olinda Silvano
- Andrés Cardona
- Camilo Pachón
- Camilo Sandoval
- Evaristo Nugkuak
- Pedro Rojas Monky
- Yefferson Huamán
- Edinson Urcuhuaranga
- Rodo Arrascue
- Claudi Carreras
- Nanette Snoep
- Fabiola Arellano
Institutions
- Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
- Museum of Cultures Cologne
- Artishock Revista
- Quai Branly
- Bundeskunsthalle
- Humboldt Forum
- Chicha Ads
Locations
- Cologne
- Germany
- Amazon
- Brazil
- Peru
- Colombia
- Bonn
- Europe
- Latin America