Cecilia Vicuña Quipu of Encounters: The Dream of Water

As an inaugural recipient of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize, New York-based Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña debuts a newly commissioned project at MOCA.

Titled Quipu of Encounters: The Dream of Water, the work is the latest in Vicuña’s series of collective actions developed with the participation of communities and publics, in both museums and natural sites, that she has created around the world since the 1960s. Quipu comes from the Quechua word for “knot,” and this multi-phase, collaborative “quipu of encounters" will engage local artists, youth, scientists, and Indigenous water defenders in Chile and in LA in poetic and political exchanges that confront the ongoing water crises unfolding in each region.

The project culminates in a ritual quipu assembly facilitated by Vicuña in LA, weaving together the struggles for water preservation in Chile and LA and building coalitions across geographies and beyond national borders.

This exhibition is accompanied by a publication.

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize is a juried award supporting artists whose practices engage critical intersections of art, architecture, design, climate, conservation, sustainability, and environmental justice.

Quipu of Encounters: The Dream of Water [Quipu de encuentros: El sueño del agua] is organized by José Luis Blondet, Senior Curator, with Ariana Rizo, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.