Native American images and collective imagination

11 February | Giuseppe Cocco Seminar

Wednesday

February

2026

6:00 pm

8:00 pm

Séminaire G. Cocco — © Christian Fischgold

Maison Suger is pleased to host the seminar Amerindian Images and Multitudinous Imaginaries, organised by Giuseppe Cocco.

Focusing on visual forms and imaginary formations emerging from the Indigenous worlds of the Americas, this seminar examines how images – produced, performed or mobilised in ritual, artistic or political contexts – contribute to the construction of contemporary ontologies and alliances.

Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from anthropology, aesthetics, cinema and design, the session explores the role of images in the making of shared worlds, beyond traditional institutional frameworks.

Presentations

Opening and introduction by Giuseppe Cocco.

Seminar moderated by Adriana Escosteguy-Medronho.

Mapping Amerindian Images

Christian Fischgold

This presentation offers a sensitive mapping of contemporary Indigenous audiovisual production in Brazil, based on fieldwork and the making of the film Motyrõ: The Technified Barbarians.

Based on a typology of the 'modes of agency' of images, it explores how the 'Technified Barbarians' (Oswald de Andrade) appropriate and transform Western equipment (cameras, drones, editing) to produce distinct visual ontologies. The presentation addresses various forms of visual agency: Image-Memory, Image-Gesture, Image-Living, Image-Body, Image-Arrow, Image-Territory.

A Forest of Images

Barbara Szaniecki

This presentation revisits the exhibition The Spirit of the Forest (2003), resulting from an encounter between shamans–including Davi Kopenawa and the Yanomami community of Watoriku–and international artists.

It reflects on the resonances between the images produced by the artists and the utupë evoked by the shamans, further illustrated by an analysis of the Hutukara carnival parade (Salgueiro, 2023–2024). These events are considered forms of imaginary and political alliances, tracing lines of resistance and possible futures in the face of the limitations of institutional frameworks and international summits.

About the speakers

Giuseppe Cocco holds a PhD in social history from Paris I University (Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1993). He is currently a full professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, a member of the postgraduate program at the School of Communication and the program in information sciences (Ibict), a researcher at CNPq, and a CNE at Faperj. He is editor of the journals Lugar comum (Rio de Janeiro) and Multitudes (Paris). He has published GlobAL: Biopouvoir et luttes dans une Amérique latine mondialisé (Record: 2005) with Antonio Negri, and New Neoliberalism and the Other. Biopower, Anthropophagy and Living Money, Lexington, 2018, with Bruno Cava.

→ Discover Giuseppe Cocco's Profil

Christian Fischgold is a researcher and filmmaker. His work explores the relationships between literature, anthropology, and cinema in Brazil and Africa, with an emphasis on the dialogue between aesthetics and politics. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature (UERJ, 2018) and is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) researcher at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. There, he is developing a project on indigenous filmmakers in Brazil, including the publication of a Critical History and the production of the documentary Motyrõ.

Barbara Szaniecki is a professor at the School of Industrial Design at Rio de Janeiro State University. She holds a bachelor's degree in visual communication from ENSAD (1994), a master's degree (2005) and a doctorate (2010) in design from the Pontifical Catholic University. With extensive practical experience in graphic design, her research focuses on the links between design and political concepts such as multitude, power, representation, and manifestation.

→ Discover Barbara Szaniecki's Profile

Adriana Escosteguy-Medronho is a doctoral student at EHESS. Her research focuses on visual forms and imaginary dynamics emerging from the Indigenous worlds of the Americas, exploring how images – produced, performed, or mobilised in ritual, artistic, or political contexts – contribute to the shaping of contemporary ontologies and alliances.