Promise No Promises!

“To find each other, again,” the tenth episode of the The Tale and the Tongue series, follows a conversation with artist Sylbee Kim. The title stems from a comment Sylbee Kim made, when she refers to the situation of meeting again with people, we haven't seen for quite some time. For her the intensity and fragmentary intimacy of many relationships happen during intense work processes, where she collaborates with many other people who also shape her projects. To find each other is a way to find oneself. Being in relationship allows us to perceive that which remains and that which wanders along the way.Sylbee Kim’s projects radiate a strong interest in life and body consciousness, both social and individual at the same time. Watching Sylbee Kim’s videos, conversations or ideas resonate, that come up recurrently when talking to others: a certain mythological self-expression of capitalism, the confusion between spirituality and religion, the Western tendency to scepticism, the moral superiority of secular and scientific knowledge, socially scripted feelings… In her projects, videos are elements that are part of a larger whole: an environment or an aesthetic ecosystem. Several objects, colors, lights, different intensities of space and sound are equally important in providing an experience for the viewer, who becomes a temporary inhabitant of a temporary setting.The conversation with Sylbee Kim took place in Berlin in July 2022. She refers to Berlin as a locus of affection. Having grown up mainly in Seoul, passing through other places, and having come to Germany during her student years, her place of belonging is not a specific place, but a constant situation of feeling “in between”. Her words on belongingness remind that to feel at home we need certain places but that we can also feel at home being with certain people. Again, finding each other can be a way for finding oneself.

DIALOG by artist duo knowbotiq (Yvonne Wilhelm and Christian Huebler) with researcher and project coordinator Ana Garzón Sabogal, is the seventh episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

CONNECTION by Vandria Borari, Brazilian artist and activist from the Borari people of Baixo Tapajós, Brazil, is the first episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges.This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

EXTRACTION by Jeremy Narby, a Switzerland-based writer, activist, and anthropologist, is the second episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges.This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LAND, HAPPENS TO THE PEOPLE by Katya García-Antón, Director and Chief Curator of the Office of Contemporary Art Norway, in Oslo, is the third episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges.This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

DEPRESSION by theater and film writer and director Pauliina Feodoroff, is the fourth episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

ETHNICITY by Ashfika Rahman, a visual artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose work straddles visual art and documentary practices, is the fifth episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

WITNESSES by Kateryna Botanova, a curator, cultural critic and writer, and Quinn Latimer, a California-born poet, critic, and editor, is the sixth episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

DIALOG by artist duo knowbotiq (Yvonne Wilhelm and Christian Huebler) with researcher and project coordinator Ana Garzón Sabogal, is the seventh episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

CONNECTION by Vandria Borari, Brazilian artist and activist from the Borari people of Baixo Tapajós, Brazil, is the first episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges.This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

EXTRACTION by Jeremy Narby, a Switzerland-based writer, activist, and anthropologist, is the second episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges.This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LAND, HAPPENS TO THE PEOPLE by Katya García-Antón, Director and Chief Curator of the Office of Contemporary Art Norway, in Oslo, is the third episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges.This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

DEPRESSION by theater and film writer and director Pauliina Feodoroff, is the fourth episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

ETHNICITY by Ashfika Rahman, a visual artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose work straddles visual art and documentary practices, is the fifth episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?

WITNESSES by Kateryna Botanova, a curator, cultural critic and writer, and Quinn Latimer, a California-born poet, critic, and editor, is the sixth episode of the podcast series Seeing Into the Heart of Things; Earth and Equality Within Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledges. This collection of episodes emerged from the Master Symposium in fall 2021, at the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK FHNW in collaboration with CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia.The contributions to the symposium were devoted to discussing Indigenous thought, decolonial feminisms, and the political possibilities of the mythic imagination, raising questions like: How do Indigenous cosmologies create forms for resistance? How does the Western imaginary of the Amazon, from its roots in racial capitalism to its corporate-tech, paternalistic present, cloud our understanding of how its peoples and nonhuman spirits narrate themselves?