About

John Arnold. Achiote Cenote. 2017. © AKI AORA AKI AORA is derived from the Spanish words AQUI and AHORA, meaning HERE and NOW. AKI AORA is a platform for cultural dialogue and reflection on current global events and an annual research program for emerging artists conceived in Tulum, Mexico. We are a temporary experimental music studio and exhibition space which manifests itself for a few weeks once a year, opening a window into rarely seen processes of work in art, film and music. AKI AORA is interested in investigating the symbiosis between locals and foreigners, inviting artists to explore nature as their auditorium. During the residency we focus on asking questions about how artistic practice and public intervention can contribute to the social fabric.

John Arnold. Achiote Cenote. 2017. © AKI AORA

AKI AORA is derived from the Spanish words AQUI and AHORA, meaning HERE and NOW. AKI AORA is a platform for cultural dialogue and reflection on current global events and an annual research program for emerging artists conceived in Tulum, Mexico.

We are a temporary experimental music studio and exhibition space which manifests itself for a few weeks once a year, opening a window into rarely seen processes of work in art, film and music.

AKI AORA is interested in investigating the symbiosis between locals and foreigners, inviting artists to explore nature as their auditorium. During the residency we focus on asking questions about how artistic practice and public intervention can contribute to the social fabric.

Location

AKI AORA 2019 will take place in Tulum, an area rich in natural resources, flora, fauna and stunning unique topography. Tulum is renowned for its Cenotes: a characteristically Mexican geological phenomenon that has been revered since Mayan times. These subterranean water bodies connect oceans, mangroves and lagoons, and have served as natural temples for thousands of years.

AKI AORA 2019 will take place in Tulum, an area rich in natural resources, flora, fauna and stunning unique topography. Tulum is renowned for its Cenotes: a characteristically Mexican geological phenomenon that has been revered since Mayan times. These subterranean water bodies connect oceans, mangroves and lagoons, and have served as natural temples for thousands of years.

 
AKI AORA 2017 #tulum #selva #arte #comunidad #art
“GUERRILLA THEATRE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE”. AKI AORA 2019. February 28 - March 09 Art direction: @akiaorita Photo credit: @lagidottir Design: @lagidottir and @billiumbricker #akiaora #akiaoraherenow #tulum #teatroguerrilla #anthropocene #selva #jungle #arte #finearts #2019 #globalwarming #guerrillatheater #rivieramaya #sitespecificart #contemporaryart #artistresidency #artecontemporáneo
“Paraíso perdido” de Rogelio Sosa, artista sonoro y compositor mexicano para AKI AORA. Febrero 2018. Located in between the boundaries of music and art, the work of Rogelio Sosa develops in the fields of experimental music and sound art. Using sound as the main creative platform, his work explores a wide range of aspects that deal with sound morphology, structures of auditory reference, and performativity, questioning at the same time the contemporary notions of “noise” and “music”. His projects include improvisations, sound actions, sound interventions and sound installations. Generating situations of exceptional hearing through the transformation and transgression of stable sound entities, as well as the intensification of the acoustic space, his artistic proposal seeks to find new ways to perceive, understand and conceptualize the sound phenomenon. #artistasonoro #teatroguerrilla #soundartist #tulum #artecontemporáneo #tulumart #artistresidency #jungle #platformforartists #art #artlaboratory #coco #coconuts #selva #experimentalmusic
A fitting read : This volume brings together a wide range of authors, all of whom were born and/or work in the Caribbean, who were invited to contribute essays which explore the current curatorial drive within the Caribbean. The theme of curatorship is considered in its broadest context, and encompasses many different projects and initiatives aimed at creating a platform for the visual arts, making visual art 'visible' by bringing it to a wider audience and broadening the critical discussion around it. Found @ortobotanico.palermo Big ups @manifestabiennial #makingtheinvisiblevisible #caribbean #jungle #akiaoraherenow #ortobotanico #manifestabiennalpalermo #contemporaryart #artecontemporáneo #interestingread
Taus Makhacheva And Then Mexico Happened / dessert / AKI AORA February 2018. Jose Luis Hinostroza and Taus Makhacheva. Here and now, you arrive to Tulum to be curious, to touch things, to be touched by things. You are standing on calcareous rock, the colours are overwhelming, especially if you come from a low saturated part of the world. You become grounded and present, like a rock you are standing on. There are rocks that make you heavier, there are rocks that make you lighter. The rocks you swallow here turn into a porous strainer inside your belly and sift things through. It is a place full of stories and its often hard to understand who is telling the story: the invaded, the invaders, the rebels or others, unnamed yet. Huitlacoche or fungus or corn smut or Mexican truffle - one ingredient and too many names. Yesterday’s Aztec daily food. Today’s delicacy in one geography and pest in another. Corn as a time travelling ship that evolved from domestication of jungle and through many species and timelines. There is liquid in your mouth, a juice that came from pressing a rock with your tongue. Rock made from fungus, fungus that grows with corn, corn that all people are made from. (2) (1) From french amuse-bouche (2) According to Popol Vuh: the Sacred Text of the Ancient Quiché Maya By @tausmakhacheva @seriousmouthfuls @mezcalmeteoro #arcatulum #dessert #artecontemporáneo #postre #foodthatlookslikerocks #huitlacoche #contemporaryart #tulumart #artlaboratory
#musiclab #tulumart #staytunned #jungle
Full house @apertoraum in Berlin during our film screening of the video work by @ahmet__ogut « The missing T » produced during our 2018 edition. Big thank you to everyone who joined and made this possible @mashaisserlis @christy.woody #tulum #artecontemporaneo #videoart #berlin #artistresidency #akiaoraherenow #akiaoratulum #akiaora #herenow #aquíyahora #apertoraum
#naturaleza #tulum #aquiyahora #herenow
Dear Friends, AKI AORA and Aperto Raum invite you to an Artist Talk and a presentation of the Video work “The Missing T” by Ahmet Öğüt. September 29th, 2018 at 6 pm @apertoraum Sophienstraße 21, 2|3 Sophie-Gips-Höfe. Berlin- Mitte. AKI AORA is a platform for cultural dialogue and reflection on current global events and an annual research program for emerging artists conceived in Tulum, Mexico. Sally Montes Head curator Masha Isserlis Co-curator#videoart #berlin #berlinart #herenow #akiaoraherenow
Installation view @Salon 63. Art and salon collaborations curated by @sashagalitzine #salon63 #divinedestiny #contemporaryart
AKI AORA 2017 John Arnold Achiote Cenote: An exploration of the mystical and material symbolism of both Achiote and Cenote on Maya terms. The conceptual dinner was set out to intertwine in taste and in implementation both qualities of Achiote as a spice and as a pigment in the very specific location of the Cenote with its implied magic through the transference of color, ritual and sacrifice where both spiritual and physical nourishment collide. At first John Arnold (1975, based in Berlin) built a pirate style color laboratory to explore the pigment form of achiote where he invited guests also to participate in the experience of the color. Natural objects like the cups and bowls inspired by traditional Mayan vessels and even the napkins were printed there. During the dinner the artist took the visitors on a very special journey, which created an unforgettable experience of nature, light, sound and taste. #akiaora #akiaoraherenow #akiaoratulum #cenote #dinner #cena #art #artecontemporáneo @jarniarni
Behind the scenes with artist @ahmet__ogut for his film « The missing T ». Commissioned and produced by AKI AORA 2018. More to come! #contemporaryart #tulum #artecontemporáneo #akiaoraherenow #akiaoratulum #akiaora
Intimate moments during AKI AORA 2018 with Hendrik Weber a.k.a @panthaduprince_official. We are a temporary experimental music studio and exhibition space which manifests itself for a few weeks once a year, opening a window into rarely seen processes of work in art, film and music. #tulum #mexico #panthaduprince #bells #openwindow #artecontemporaneo #jungle #akiaora #akiaoraherenow #experimentalmusic #akiaoratulum #contemporaryart #residenciaartistica #artistresidency #womencurators #performanceart
AKI AORA 2017 #artecontemporaneo #contemporaryart #tulum #arte #art #exhibition #artistrunspace #artistas #finearts #artistresidency #nonprofit #artfoundation #asociacioncivil #comunidad #currentglobalevents #jungle #performance #screening #film #utopianexperiment #poetry #philosophy #socialissues #arteyresistencia
Image and photo by @carlitoxtrujillo. AKI AORA 2017 publication. #arte #tulum #art #photography #beach #pyramid #imagen #image #akiaoratulum #akiaoraherenow #akiaora #artistresidency #artbook
“PERREADORXS AGUAFIESTAS” INVASORIX AKI AORA 2018 Durante la residencia AKI AORA (Tulum, 2018) exploramos a través del cuerpo y el baile, algunos géneros musicales para “perrear”, como: reguetón, dancehall, funky carioca, champeta, choke, etc. lo que dio lugar a PERREADORXS AGUAFIESTAS, propuesta en la que realizamos diferentes provocaciones como formas de protesta cuir-feminista. Llamado abierto a la comunidad. Open call. #artecontemporaneo #contemporaryart #invasorix #queerartist #feminista #feminist #performance #performanceart #perreadorasmáximas #reggaeton #film #perreointenso #artinpublicspaces #comunidad #comunity #artistresidency #tulum #mexico
#akiaoraherenow #akiaora #arte #tulum #art #exhibition #artisresidency #jungle #conservation #utopiadystopia
Inspired by John Milton´s Paradise lost poem, Rogelio´s work during AKI AORA focused on exploring themes of devastation of the environment and Mayan mythology using sound as the main medium. The research resulted in the deconstruction of prehispanic instruments played live via electronic devices that the artist operated during the piece accompanied by four actors throughout a two hour long play that combined ritualistic practice with synchronized actions that were meant to remind the audience of the demise of eden - alluding to a paradise that is eventually destroyed. Different narrations in Mayan language described the creation of the world and human being, with its descent towards death and the end of times. The Mayan narrations were intertwined by another voice in English that spoke of anthropological themes that study colonialism, sauvage man and shamanism. #rogeliososa #performance #finearts #arte #tulum #art #paradiselost #artecontemporaneo #artesonoro #soundart #soundartist