Paper short abstract:

While discussing how curation has contributed to co/re-designing art circuits, anthropology, and other spheres, this paper focuses on an exhibition at the Quai Branly analysing how exotism continues to be fuelled, particularly from global museums, and in booming times of Amazonian indigenous art.

Paper long abstract:

In 1992 Mari Carmen Ramírez published “Beyond the Fantastic” to question the exhibition Art of the Fantastic: Latin America, 1920-1987 at the Indianapolis Museum, criticising its homogenised representation of a supposed fantastic mentality throughout Latin America. Ramírez highlighted the importance to engage with knowledge produced from Latin America to understand the complexities of a continent.

This paper, entitled “Beyond the Shamanic”, analyses the exhibition Shamanic Visions: Ayahuasca Arts in the Peruvian Amazons at the Quai Branly. It asks: What roles does art play in the curatorial narrative and exhibition? What role does ayahuasca play in the show and its publicity? How does the exhibition engage with the artworks, its aesthetics, and artists’ agendas? Moreover, how does the curatorial narrative engage with the artistic-curatorial history and work from the global south? Which is the relation of museums and market in fuelling narratives at museum level to mobilise economic value? While being at the Quai Branly could be seen as a success –considering the symbolic, economic, power of the museum and the city- what narratives are being fuelled from the Quai Branly with this exhibition? Looking at this show in relation to other recent exhibitions of Amazonian art in the global south and Europe, this paper recognises the powerful role of curation in re/co-designing the art circuits, anthropology, and other spheres, but its aim is to place emphasis in discussing the continues fuelling of exotism from anthropology and museums, particularly at global stages and in booming times of Amazonian indigenous art.