Quipus, What Is Poetry?

Director: Cecilia Vicuña

1980 / 52min / DCP

A program of Vicuña’s moving-image works bringing together her 1980 short What is Poetry to You and a collection of her “Quipu” films, exploring unwritten systems of communication. In the first-named work, the artist approaches passers-by from all walks of life on the streets of Bogotá, Columbia, and poses the titular question to each, receiving in return a variety of diverse and often surprising answers; while the “Quipu” shorts take their name from an ancient textile-based recording and communication system used by the Andean Quechua, a source of inspiration to Vicuña in every aspect of her practice for over five decades.

Post-screening discussion with artist Cecilia Vicuña and Professor Elizabeth Povinelli