A brief narrative about the cooperation between the University of Leeds (UK) and the NGO Thydêwá (Brazil).
All links in this post address English materials.
In 2007, Prof. Pitman began a longitudinal study of one of Thydêwá’s most ground-breaking programmes for digital inclusion, “Índios Online”, publishing an article on the topic in 2017. That same year, in February, she invited the president of Thydêwá, Mr. Gerlic, to participate as a speaker in a seminar at the Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures (CWCDC) University of Leeds. “Can the subaltern speak online?” was the name of the event sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s One World Research Initiative and the University of Leeds Humanities Research Institute. Gerlic spent a week in the UK with Pitman discussing further collaboration. As a consequence, they received grant funding to start 2 projects:
- “Sumak Kawsay and the Sustainable Development Agenda: Critical Debates and Creative Responses from a Latin American Indigenous Perspective”(2018-19) on an AHRC/GCRF-funded Research Network. Pitman write two dossiers in the journals Revista Periferias and Lugar Comum.
- ‘AEI – Indigenous Electronic Art’ – “AEI – Arte Eletrônica Indígena”
Time line:
2018:
Digital Natives, Exhibition at Leeds International Festival (catalogue; short article; deep interview); presenting the actions that Thydêwá had done with Art + Digital Culture + Indigenous Peoples before AEI.
AEI officially started with 10 Residencies sponsored by Oi + Oi Futuro & Governo da Bahia, and support of a British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant to Pitman work as both researcher and international curator for the project. Four of the 10 videos about each residency have English versions:
Museu da Arte Moderno da Bahia, 1 month Exibition. A short video Occupy MAM + Catalogue.
2019:
British Academy Summer Showcase (Flyer Catalogue)
Ars Electronica Festival.Awarded an Honorable Mention in the European Commission-sponsored Science, Technology and Arts (ST+ARTS) Prize 2019, and were the only winning entry from the Global South, from a pool of over 2,000 entries.
AEI.2 with two more residencies, one with the support of the British Council / Oi Futuro, and with results shown at the Municipal Theatre in Ilhéus, Bahia (video).
Leeds Light Night (video mix UK – BR).
The Native Spirit Indigenous Film Festival.
Brazilian Popular Cultures Award.
2020
Experimentation on Digital Residencies with KOKIR Collective.
The Native Spirit Indigenous Film Festival.
Experimentation on Digital Residencies with Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia.
The University of Leeds-Thydêwá partnership has thus far sponsored four trips by Brazilians to the UK and four trips by Britons to Brazil and has generated new projects as:
“Dzubukuá Kipeá language” with the Kariri-Xocó indigenous community.
GALLERY
