To mark the launch of the 2019–2021 programming theme Frontiers, artist Diego Briceño presented his interactive docufiction Dupu. Still available for viewing on demand, this piece features interactive tableaux that open the door to Guna Yala, the land of the Panamanian Guna people, at a time of significant change.
Guna Yala, a territory comprising more than 300 islands off the southern coast of Panama, is home to the Guna nation, a proud indigenous people who have fought for, won, and maintained their sovereignty since 1925. But today, the integrity of this territory is threatened by rising sea levels due to global warming and also by debris from the North that now covers their shores. The Guna people face the possibility of having to migrate to the mainland while trying to transfer the essence of their culture to future generations. Guna visual artist Oswaldo DeLeon Kantule, better known as “Achu,” has therefore committed himself to rendering his own interpretation of the territory's past, present, and future by painting a map that incorporates the ancestral symbols of his culture, the reactions of his community, and the new technology that has come from Waga (white Western culture). This collaborative work attempts to understand whether interactive media can offer new ways to create and express the voice of an indigenous people while facing the challenges of cyber-colonialism.
Presented on a large touchscreen, Dupu is an interactive painting experience that unfolds like a mosaic of memories, weaving together the artist's personal vision, expressed in the “first person plural,” the voice of the community. As the centerpiece of the experience, the project features an animated painting by Achu that serves as an interface for connecting audio recordings and short video stories about the current reality of his people. The interactivity replicates the complex choices that the Guna people will have to make in order to resist, preserve, and adapt to the challenges ahead. Achu's painting is composed of four main “objects” and four “layers,” each offering a different way to explore the audiovisual resources.
As with most of Achu's work, the entire design is inspired by the principles of Guna Mola art, a complex technique involving colorful, multi-layered fabric depicting natural and supernatural pictograms sewn onto traditional dresses worn by women. According to the artist, Mola art encompasses five main principles: duality, repetition, abstraction, multidimensionality, and the use of metaphorical language or symbols. The purpose of abstraction in their art is to strip away form in order to seek the true essence of things (Gwage) and create a new language inaccessible to physical and spiritual enemies. The design, video approach, and even programming choices take these principles into account.
