The Portable Universe: Thought and Splendor of Indigenous Colombia at LACMA
The Portable Universe
Thought and Splendor of Indigenous Colombia
May 29, 2022 — October 2, 2022
Comprising approximately 400 works, including an unprecedented number of loans from the Museo del Oro in Bogota, this groundbreaking exhibition presents the diversity and materiality of ancient Colombian cultures and reframes how we approach ancient Colombian art. With the European conquest, Indigenous cultures and knowledge, based on millennia of intellectual efforts, were disregarded as crude superstition. The Portable Universe is designed to recapture some of that knowledge and to envelop the works with life and meaning, inviting visitors into a cultural dialogue that spans both space and time. The project also draws heavily on contemporary Indigenous understandings to evoke a worldview in which ancient artworks have relevance for today and the future. The curatorial team has been working in close collaboration with the Arhuaco of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, who are supporting and engaged in the project, part of a long-term initiative in fostering cross-cultural dialogue and knowledge exchange.
Unpacking the Universe: The Making of an Exhibition is a documentary series that follows the six-year journey of LACMA’s curators Diana Magaloni and Julia Burtenshaw researching, developing, and installing The Portable Universe / El Universo en tus Manos. The series allows us to be transparent about how the team facilitated a collaborative process with the Arhuaco community in Colombia and curators at different institutions and kept this spirit of collaboration alive in the way the exhibition was installed.
Among many topics, the documentary features scenes of breathtaking landscapes and archeological sites; conversations with Mamo Camilo Izquierdo and Jaison Perez Villafaña regarding the Arhuaco worldview and how this relates to contemporary social and environmental issues; and behind-the-scenes footage of preparing the exhibition, including new initiatives around museum stewardship of Indigenous works.
