Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol

HOL-HOL TOL in the Selk'nam language is the “heart of peatlands”.

– Hema’ny Molina, Hach Saye

Peatlands are in urgent need of conservation. All over this increasingly hot and arid world, these wetlands are imperiled. Their conservation is intrinsically linked to the future wellbeing of humankind and, in Patagonia, to the rebirth of the Selk'nam people. Peat bogs are clamoring to be represented as a living body, as the Selk'nam people are also clamoring to be recognized as a living culture. Together, we are claiming a society of mutual care: peatlands and bog people are indivisible.

History inaccurately suggests that the Selk'nam people became extinct. However, 8,000 years before the arrival of the colonizers who brought about genocide, the Selk'nam coexisted with peat bogs in Karokynka/Tierra del Fuego. Here, today, Selk'nam voices are heard again, proclaiming the rights of the peat bogs.

Peatlands play a critical role in the regulation of the planet’s climate by capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in deep layers of unaltered organic matter (peat). Although this capacity places them “among the most valuable ecosystems on earth” (Wildlife Conservation Society Chile), peatlands are an overlooked type of wetland—in part due to their fundamentally “buried” structure. This complex condition increases their vulnerability to serious threats such as mining, the extraction of vegetation, and drainage for the construction of infrastructure such as highways. Once drained and destroyed, peat bogs go from being carbon sinks to emitting enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses.

Peatlands challenge us to create a new, turbid, layered, and multivocal aesthetic that highlights the stories of the healthy Patagonian peat bogs, emphasizing their role as a Southern bastion of vitality in the face of climate change.

COLLABORATION AND ETHICS

Based on over a decade of eco-cultural cooperation in Tierra del Fuego, Turba Tol comes from the trans-disciplinary research practice of Ensayos and rethinks the role of art, creating growing communities oriented towards biodiversity conservation and coherent environmental actions. All ethical considerations relating to Selk'nam language are guided according to the policies of central collaborators Hach Saye’s Ethical Research Board.

TURBA TOL

CURATOR

Camila Marambio

ARTISTS

Ariel Bustamante - Sound

Carla Macchiavello - Art history

Dominga Sotomayor - Film

Alfredo Thiermann - Architecture

COMMISSIONER

Ximena Moreno (Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of Chile)

CULTURAL PRODUCER

Juan Pablo Vergara

CREATIVE COLLABORATORS

Hema’ny Molina - Selk'nam poetry and song

Bárbara Saavedra - Ecology

Rosario Ureta - Design

Mateo Zlatar - Web design

Carola del Río - Web development

Sebastián Cruz - Exhibition design

Antonia Peón-Veiga - Lighting

Constanza Güell - Managing catalog editor

Nicolás Arze - Art direction

Christy Gast - Art direction

Benjamín Echazarreta - Photography direction

Isabel Torres - Voice rumors

Fernanda Olivares - Selk'nam guide

Nicole Püschel - Climate change and biodiversity

Susanne Abel, Matthias Krebs, Jan Peters, Anja Prager and Greta Gaudig (SphagnumLAB)

Agustine Zegers, Denise Milstein, Randi Nygård, Karolin Tampere, Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel, Freja Carmichael, Sonja Carmichael, Elisa Jane Carmichael, Jasper Coleman, Caitlin Franzmann, Renee Rossini - Scent

Hans Toso, Tiff Rekem, Josh Widdicombe, Rus Gant, Stefan Grabowski – Video post production

COORDINATORS

Daniela Aravena - Deputy Commissioner, DIRAC

Carolina Martínez - Project management, MINCAP

Alessandra Dal Mos - Producer in Italy, MINCAP

ORGANIZERS

Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of Chile - Government of Chile

DIRAC- Division for Cultures, Arts, Heritage and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS

Chilean Embassy in Italy

ProChile

Wildlife Conservation Society - Chile