Earlier this month, the digital artwork project Winds of Yawanawá created at Scorpios Mykonos as part of a special program surrounding the launch of the new art platform Scorpio Dating. Co-created by new media artist Refik Anadol and the Yawanawá, an indigenous people of Brazil, Winds of Yawanawá is the first iteration of Possible futuresa spin-off initiative from the Genesis Aboriginal Outreach Program, commissioned by impact one PDG Mikolaj Sekutowics, and organized by Jeanne de Kroon as part of the Wellbeing Culture Forum at Therme Art.
prime minister of Winds of Yawanawá (2023). Courtesy of Impact One.
Following an invitation from Chief Nixiwaka Yawanawá and Putanny, Therme Art and Impact One visited the sacred Yawanawá village of Aldeia Sagrada in the Brazilian state of Acre. The experience inspired the initiative – which has since grown into a broad platform amplifying Indigenous voices – and the development of Possible Futures, comprised of a collection of ongoing initiatives and programs that offer new ways to platform insights and action plans for future-oriented, eco-friendly lifestyles leveraging new technologies.
For the Yawanawá Homeland Tour, Impact One invited Anadol, whose experiences with media arts, public art, as well as data sculpture and painting, provided an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration. The resulting digital work Winds of Yawanawá reflects the culture of the tribe and the singular significance and influence of the surrounding native rainforest environment. Simultaneously, it highlights the value of new Web3 technologies, such as blockchain and NFTs, in preserving and enhancing indigenous ways and models of environmental protection and sustainability. “At the height of the digital age, this artwork reconnects with our natural heritage, drawing its form and language from the Amazon rainforest, while providing funds for the Yawanawá and their rainforest stewardship, to give back. That makes this collaboration really positive for nature as a whole,” Sekutowicz said.
Winds of Yawanawá is comprised of a Genesis NFT collection limited to 1,000 pieces, with each NFT featuring a unique video and sound compilation born from the central work of the series. Elements such as live weather data from the tribe’s location in the Amazon rainforest – including temperature as well as wind speed and direction – are interpreted through artistic means in Anadol’s work, emphasizing the mutualism between the tribe and the environment.
Chief Nixiwaka Yawanawá and Refik Anadol. © Fotinos Bakrisioris for the Scorpions.
Chief Nixiwaka Yawanawá said, “This partnership we are building with Refik is directly for our communities. It strengthens our village, it strengthens our culture, it strengthens our spirituality, it gives us the strength to defend, to protect our forest. And shows us that we are not alone. That we have allies around the world. It gives us power. This project can serve as a model and an example for many indigenous peoples and for big companies, big artists, big actors, big celebrities in the world.
The need for a symbiotic approach to living in the natural world is particularly prevalent today, as environmental concerns reach unprecedented heights and with the rapid development of technology offering potential, mappable solutions. Anadol said about the use of new technologies in the field of environmentalism and the current project: “We need collective wisdom. And if you think of collective wisdom, you will need ancestral wisdom. On one level it is more educational and inspiring – hearing the voices of the Yawanawá and how we are changing and bringing their perspective to the dialogue is the most fundamental part of the project.
Members of the Yawanawá community. © Camilla Coutinho for Impact One.
The product of the Winds of Yawanawá, whose pre-sale has sold out, goes directly to Instituto Nixiwaka, which represents the Yawanawá communities of Aldeia Sagrada and Nova Esperança, and in turn supports key projects and initiatives aimed at protecting the tribe’s culture and territories, including the construction of sustainable infrastructure, the organization of conferences and the development of local school programs. And as it exists on the blockchain, revenue distribution is inherently transparent – a new model of community-driven Web3 smart contracts that have the potential to offer immeasurable help and support from local projects to global-scale initiatives.
THE Winds of Yawanawá marks an exciting first step in Web3, art and indigenous collaboration, which carries a hopeful and concrete goal to improve the future of the earth and the ways in which humans live and move in the natural world.
Learn about Winds of Yawanawa Data Painting NFT here.
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