Residency exchange
“HIWIRHI IPAATTONI ~ boîte d’étoiles” (Box of Stars)
An international artist residency exchange between the Brazilian Amazon and Geneva has resulted in an immersive audiovisual installation.
The installation “HIWIRHI IPAATTONI ~ boîte d’étoiles” (Box of Stars) is the fruit of a residency exchange launched in 2023 between Mi Mawai, a Brazilian platform dedicated to strengthening partnerships in the arts, and L’Abri – Geneva.
For L’Abri, this collaboration contributes to the development of its international residency network, with the aim of offering its Associated Artists creative experiences rooted in unique cultural, social and ecological contexts. For Mi Mawai, the exchange represents an opportunity to strengthen dialogue between traditional and contemporary Indigenous musical traditions, while building new bridges between the Amazon rainforest and the European continent through the languages of sound and image.
Between 2023 and 2025, the project took shape through virtual meetings, readings, visits and exchanges between the various teams. This process culminated in Waphia Warapaka, an immersive residency held from 10 to 29 July 2025 in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon, within the Baniwa community (self-designated Medzeniako) of Assunção do Rio Içana.
This residency brought together the artists invited by L’Abri – Geneva, Sarah Moens and Tiki Bordin (Associated Artists for the 2023–2024 season), the artist invited by Pro Helvetia South America, Sandar Tun Tun, as well as the artists from Mi Mawai — Idjahure Terena, Nana Orlandi, Lucas Canavarro, Pedro Rondon, Mayra Abreu and Zulmí Nascimento — in collaboration with artists from the Baniwa community of Assunção do Rio Içana, under the direction of Francy Baniwa and with the support of Francisco Fontes Baniwa.
Following this initial phase, a second creative and post-production residency brought part of the team together in Geneva from 10 to 29 March 2026. This period of work enabled the installation to take its final form. Sarah Moens and Sandar Tun Tun developed the sound design and spatialisation. Frank Baniwa created the monumental sculpture of Buya Wasu (the Great Serpent), as well as a series of watercolours, which were subsequently animated by Tiki Bordin, who also handled the video mapping and technical setup. Lucas Canavarro was responsible for video editing and finalising.
The installation, co-produced by Madzerokai – Escola Viva Baniwa, L’Abri – Geneva, the MEG and Mi Mawai, was inaugurated on 6 May 2026 as part of the exhibition "Le futur, c'est quoi?" (What Is The Future?). It is on display at the Geneva Museum of Ethnography (MEG) from 7 May 2026 to 10 January 2027. The artwork offers an immersion into the cosmology of the Baniwa, an Indigenous population from the north-western Amazon.
Through a composition combining video, soundscapes, flutes, traditional songs and dances, the installation offers a sensory experience in which the stars become a space for transmitting knowledge, memories and relationships between beings. Visitors are invited to lie in hammocks and on mats to contemplate space and time through the teachings of the stars.
Beyond the installation itself, this project served as a space for collective research grounded on listening, sharing and reciprocity. The artistic exchanges were built on respect for different ways of inhabiting the world, without seeking to erase historical asymmetries or produce a consensual narrative, but rather by making these differences and conflicts a ground for dialogue and creation.
Following this experience, the collective of artists and producers wrote two texts that extend this reflection and revisit the idea of building an alliance grounded in horizontal and anti-colonial perspectives, attentive both to historical legacies and to the rich ancestral knowledge and cosmologies of the Baniwa people.
To go further:
Abreu, Mayra ; Canavarro, Lucas ; Mattana, Alessandra ; Moens, Sarah ; Nascimento, Zulmí ; Orlandi, Nana. « Il n'y a rien d'intact », dans Le futur, c'est quoi? Dialoguer avec l'avenir, catalogue de l'exposition, Genève : MEG / Silvana Editoriale, 2026.
Baniwa, Francy et Terena, Idjahure, « HIWIRHI IPAATTONI : Boîte d’étoiles et de rêves », dans Le futur, c'est quoi ? Dialoguer avec l'avenir, catalogue de l'exposition, Genève : MEG / Silvana Editoriale, 2026.
Additional resource:
An article published by Selvagem – Ciclo de Estudos sobre a Vida reflects on the arrival in Geneva of Madzerokai’s stories and stars, as well as the process of coming together around the installation HIWIRHI IPAATTONI ~ Box of Stars.
Selvagem – Ciclo de Estudos sobre a Vida. « Madzerokai Stories and Stars Arrive in Geneva », 2026.
Online: https://selvagemciclo.org.br/historias-e-estrelas-madzerokai-chegam-em-genebra/
Support for the Geneva–Assunção do Rio Içana Artist-in-Residence Exchange
Pro Helvetia, the Republic and Canton of Geneva, L’Abri – Geneva, Shap Shap, FOIRN (Federation of Indigenous Peoples of the Rio Negro), OCIDAI (Organization of Indigenous Communities of Assunção do Içana), and AMARONAI (Association of Baniwa Women).
Residency Participants
Guest artists: Tiki Bordin, Sarah Moens, Sandar Tun Tun.
Mi Mawai artists: Idjahure Terena, Lucas Canavarro, Mayra Abreu, Nana Orlandi, Pedro Rondon, Zulmí Nascimento.
Installation Credits
Co-production: Madzerokai – Escola Viva Baniwa, Mi Mawai, L’Abri – Geneva, and the MEG.
General Direction: Baniwa Community of Assunção do Rio Içana
Artistic Direction: Francisco Fontes Baniwa
Paintings and Sculpture: Frank Baniwa
Institutional Coordination: Alessandra Mattana (L’Abri – Geneva)
Concept: Baniwa Community of Assunção do Rio Içana, Alessandra Mattana, Nana Orlandi, Lucas Canavarro
Executive Production: Nana Orlandi, Lucas Canavarro, Alessandra Mattana
Production Director: Nana Orlandi
Production Coordinator: Mayra Abreu
Audiovisual Direction: Baniwa Community of Assunção do Rio Içana
Audiovisual Coordination: Francy Baniwa and Lucas Canavarro
Director of Photography: Zulmí Nascimento
Cameras: Francy Baniwa, Larissa Baniwa, Estevam Fontes, Bruno Almeida, Lucas Canavarro, and Zulmí Nascimento
Research and Dialogue: Francy Baniwa, Idjahure Terena, and Nana Orlandi
Animation: Frank Baniwa and Tiki Bordin
Video Mapping: Tiki Bordin
Video Editing and Post-Production: Lucas Canavarro
Sound Design, Mixing, and Mastering: Sarah Moens, Sandar Tun Tun, and Pedro Rondon.
