Technology preserves indigenous heritage in Brazilian reserve

An innovative experience led by British charity People's Palace Projects and the Spanish-based Factum Foundation between May 8 and 18 in the Kuikuro indigenous village in Brazil's Xingu Indigenous Park was presented at the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio as part of a seminar on Xingu art, technology and conservation. Factum Foundation is a leader of digital technology for cultural heritage conservation.

The park, which spans over 27,000 square kilometers (about 2,800,000 hectares including the Batovi and Wawi indigenous territories) is located in the north portion of the Central-Western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a transition zone between the savannah of the Central Plateau and the Amazon rainforest. Created in 1961, the Xingu Indigenous Park was the first demarcated indigenous land officially recognized by the Brazilian government.

Adam Lowe, Director of Factum Foundation, says the international artistic residency experience at Ipatse village in collaboration with the Upper Xingu Kuikuro Indigenous Association was met with a positive response. “They enjoyed this exchange with us,” said Lowe, who took on the challenge proposed by native Kuikuru artists of using cutting-edge technology to preserve their culture.

Factum Foundation brought the technology it uses for other projects around the world to the Upper Xingu experience. Digital technology has already enabled the foundation to preserve the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt; paintings by Caravaggio, and an identical copy of Michelangelo's Last Supper.

According to Paul Heritage, Director of People's Palace Projects, the indigenous people want to build respect for their culture and traditions, and disseminate their culture through non-destructive cultural exchange. Drones and 3D printing were some of the resources used by Factum Foundation in the experience in the Upper Xingu. Heritage said the activities were focused on new technologies in the same way video was used 20 or 30 years ago to “enable cultural exchange among themselves and with the whites' world.”

Coming up

There are plans to continue the experience. In September, People's Palace Projects aims to return to the Kuikuro village, where a hut currently being built will “become a culture center”, allowing the Kuikuro to show their culture, dances, rituals, masks, and way of life. The charity wants to disseminate indigenous culture to other places in Rio and London.

The pilot project will result in further experiences that could gradually build new elements potentially leading up to the Kuikuro's own exhibition. “We are there to help them create this new village using these technologies.”

Factum Foundation is internationally renowned for working with the world’s greatest artists and museums. This is the first time they have carried out a project in Brazil, at the invitation of People's Palace Projects.

Translated by Mayra Borges