Wiener Festwochen: Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha Altamira 2042

Since 2013, actor and director Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha has been pursuing her artistic research project Margens. On Rivers, Buiúnas and Fireflies, studying Brazil’s river landscapes at risk from mankind’s intervention. In Altamira 2042 she encounters the Xingu River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon.
Its impoundment as part of a construction project is causing irreversible destruction to rainforest regions and poses a massive threat to indigenous groups. In this gripping, performative installation, human and non-human voices sound over loudspeakers, forming into a techno-shamanistic ritual against extinction in the name of progress. The gushing of water. The noise of machinery. The stories told by the river dwellers. And the testimonies of the displaced. As master of ceremonies, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha provides a stage for the many-voiced Xingu River. ‘If the river itself could talk, it would cry. Because it does not speak, it suffers everything in silence.’