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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles, weaving together the struggles for water preservation in Chile and Los Angeles and building coalitions across geographies and beyond national borders. This exhibition also presents documentation in the form of writings, images, oral histories, field recordings, and other experimental forms of the collective events taking place in Chile, and is accompanied by a publication.

Quipu of Encounters: The Dream of Water is organized by Anna Katz, Senior Curator, with Ariana Rizo, Curatorial Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

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.

Presenting support is provided by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize.

Major support is provided by Maria Seferian.

Exhibitions at MOCA are supported by the MOCA Fund for Exhibitions with major funding provided by Tatiana Botton, The Goodman Family Foundation, Alfred E. Mann Charities, and Alicia Miñana and Robert Lovelace. Generous funding is provided by Michael and Zelene Fowler, The Earl and Shirley Greif Foundation, Pamela and Jarl Mohn, Jonathan Segal, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, and Pamela West.