Exhibitions

An integral part of the Audio-Video Documentation Center “Daniele Fava” is the traveling exhibition “Teocuicatl: the sacred song”.

The first exhibition organized by the “Circolo Amerindiano” entitled Culture of the Americas was born from the desire to carry out education courses to the Otherness and to spread the knowledge of American indigenous cultures on the occasion of an invitation to our Centro Studi, in October of the same year, to participate in the “Latin American week” in Gubbio (Perugia).

This itinerant exhibition, that consists today of 653 photographic enlargements and related captions mounted on 297 plastic panels, has been hosted in various cities in Umbria and Italy. The exhibition illustrates the history and culture of the Americas by thematic and geographical areas, which allows great versatility in the choice of particular topics to propose to the public.

The photographic material collected over the years during the numerous study trips made in the Americas by the members of the Centro Studi and which constitutes the lifeblood of the numerous exhibitions carried out is, for large part, the work of Daniele Fava, the one who has been, for almost 15 years, the official photographer of the “Circolo Amerindiano” until his death in 2004 and to whom the Audio-Video Documentation Center Center is currently dedicated. With a careful look and lover of the Otherness and of the thousand shades of the American continent, Daniele Fava has managed to give life, over the years, to an audiovisual documentary heritage from which his professionalism emerges having its roots in the passion for the lands of America.

Over the years, there has been a strong awareness of the need to bring young people closer to the study of Amerindian cultures as a stimulus to respect for otherness. In this regard, educational courses have been created with the materials displayed and within the exhibition spaces themselves, in order to make the reading of the contents usable.

The exhibitions are often accompanied by documentary and museum material, owned by our Centro Studi, which allow us to further grasp the complexity of the cultural realities represented.

The exhibition, which initially consisted of only one block, Teocuicatl: the sacred song – a historical journey of the peoples and cultures of the Americas – saw the creation of numerous other exhibition modules aimed at deepening particular historical and cultural social themes that found headquarters in many municipalities in Italy.

It has been a realization, therefore, of scientific knowledge paths on otherness which, in the operational construction of the exhibitions themselves by the volunteer members of the Centro Studi, have contributed to the “human” personal and group growth. There have been moments of great effort and of sleepless nights but which crystallized in the minds and hearts of those who participated in them as fundamental elements of the human path that the Centro Studi has helped to create and develop in each of us. A human and scientific experience that has contributed to the growth of the students of the Centro Studi and to mature life and professional choices by following the paths of anthropology.

Available exhibitions

At the moment the following exhibitions are available:

• Uomini di mais: storia e cultura delle genti della Mesoamerica: an overview that starts from the first population of the Americas, crosses the main phases and cultures of the pre-Columbian era of the Mesoamerican area, the Spanish conquest, reaching independence and ending with the recent events of Chiapas;
• Hoka hey: storia e cultura degli indiani del Nordamerica: it consists of an overview of the peoples and cultures in the different sub-areas of North America and the Polar Area, from the first population to the present day passing through the previous phase to the arrival of the white people, the Indian wars, the contemporary ethnological situation, the resistance of the Natives;
• America Latina: un continente sospeso: the history of Latin America from its formation (the discovery, the conquest, the colonization) to the contemporary situation, focusing on the main problems and debates, from that of identity to that of economic dependence and so on;
• Note d’America: dalla musica precolombiana alla salsa: this module examines the history of indigenous and Latin American music (with a brief mention of other traditions), analyzing the main movements, rhythms, schools and protagonists; the presence of many instruments with large presentation cards is important;
• I segni dell’Universo: scienza, filosofia e scrittura in Mesoamerica: the module is dedicated to the extraordinary intellectual achievements of the ancient Mesoamericans in the mathematical, astronomical and philosophical fields and to their many and different forms of writing, closely linked to the thinking of those peoples and their graphic-symbolic expression;
• Pacha kunturpa, terra di condor: storia e cultura delle genti delle Ande: an overview that starts from the first population of the Americas, crosses the main phases and cultures of the pre-Columbian era of the Andean region, the Spanish conquest, reaching independence and ending with recent political facts;
• Uomini e foresta: l’Amazzonia dalle origini alla distruzione: it consists of an overview of the people and cultures in the different sub-areas of the Amazonian Ara, from the first population to the present day passing through the previous phase to the arrival of the white people, the first conquest and European penetration, the contemporary ethnological situation, the destruction of the forest and its prospects, the resistance of the Natives;
• I mali del corpo, i mali dell’anima: sciamanesimo e curanderismo nella medicina degli Indiani delle Americhe: this module addresses the ideas, techniques and knowledge, therapists and institutions of medicine in the Americas from the pre-Columbian period to today, giving particular attention to phenomena such as curanderism, shamanism and trance, the use of drugs, herbal knowledge and so on;
• I nomi di Dio, la spiritualità amerindiana di fronte alla cristianizzazione: this module deals with the evolution of Amerindian thought from the pre-Columbian period until today, passing through the overview of the pre-Columbian cosmovisions, the impact of European conquest, indigenous resistance and new religious standards; the exhibition was prepared in this form for the Jubilee;
• Tierra de mais: the “campesino” culture of Mesoamerica, an overview of the traditions, tools, everyday life and rituals of the agricultural people of Mesoamerica, through the important Borruso Collection, the result of thirty years of work on the collection of traditional instruments;
• Tierra y libertad: the events, the protagonists, the ideas and images of the Mexican revolution, one of the events with the greatest social, political and cultural impact in the entire history of Latin America and beyond.

Exhibitions held

A synoptic overview of the modules, locations and periods in which the exhibitions were held