There is a Brazillian rainforest re-creation complete with real live Amazon Indians for our gawking pleasure down at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport from now until sometime in July.
The press release states, “The Amazon Jungle Comes Alive in the Concrete Jungle.When diverse cultures meet…In this 13,000-square-foot re-creation of the Amazon, visitors can experience firsthand the sights, sounds and wonders of life in the Brazilian Amazon, including its biodiversity, people, villages and cities. Visitors will be able to interact directly with communities living in the heart of the forest via the Internet, and meet shamans and artisans from the region in person.”

Sounds fun, no? Not only do you get to interact with the real live Indian shamen/artisans you also get to cyber-chat with their friends and family back in their rainforest home! I mean, holy shit who knew they hand internet access in the Amazon? Well, actually the National Museum of the American Indian recently hosted a video series created by and about the indigenous people of the Amazon. So clearly, they are tech saavy, but I’m curious to see how this rainforest and it’s inhabitants are presented outside of their natural context, and in a touristy area of Lower Manhattan, no less. The idea of shamen/artisans on display for the tourist masses (because that’s about all that hang down at the Seaport) in what amounts to a 3-D interactive museum-style exhibition harkens directly to James Luna’s “Artifact Piece” recently re-enacted by Erica Lord, also at the NMAI. This warrants a what the fuck!?, fo sho! Because no matter which way you spin it it still exoticizes not only the people of the rainforest, but the environment itself, and consequently, re-enforces the notion of native people, their homes, and lifeways as anthro-archaelogical curiosities. But let’s not be too hasty nor cynical. Perhaps nuances were added to challenge my assumptions? Of course, I will go down to investigate! This Sunday, in fact, though it will cost me $16.00, but I would have spent that on less enligtening situations-like happy hour.
More to come!