Yanomami, Spirit of the Forest' & the signs of the times/`Yanomami, l'Esprit de la Forêt' und die Zeichen der Zeit

Discusses the exhibition Yanomami: l'Esprit de la Fôret on show at the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris (14 May-12 Oct. 2003). The author explains the role of the anthropologist Bruce Abert and shamans from the Yanomami community in the organization of the show, notes the aim of the show to explore differences in artistic outlook between Western and Yanomami societies, and outlines the means adopted to create an artistic interchange rather than producing a show based on a documentary approach. He comments on the work of the artists Claudia Andújar, Gary Hill, Tony Oursler, Naoki Takizawa, Wolfgang Staehle, Volkmar Zeigler, Adriana Varejão, and Vincent Beaurin, studies previous attempts to compare the artistic cultures of Western and non-Western cultures with reference to the artists Paul Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, and focuses on the theories of festivalism and sharing exoticisms developed in response to the development of a global art market. He considers on the role of the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre (1989) in the initiation of a global and universal approach to art, reports on a number of critical responses to the show, and highlights the ethnographic surrealism associated with the French author Michel Leiris.