DIGITAL ANTHROPOPHAGY AND THE ANTHROPOPHAGIC RE-MANIFESTO FOR THE DIGITAL AGE (2010–2016) 

Lecture-Performance with publication of text on event proceedings, catalogues, scientific journals and books. 

Winner of the Vilém Flusser Theory Award Distinction - Transmediale.11

DIGITALE ANTHROPOPHAGIE UND DAS ANTHROPOPHAGISCHE RE-MANIFEST FÜR DAS DIGITALE ZEITALTER. 2016 at Kultursymposium Weimar.

The work is comprised of a theoretical essay where I propose a new practice of consumption (ingestion, digestion and excretion) involving a technological mediation. It contains a manifesto-poem with a new take on the original Manifesto Antropófago written by the Brazilian modernist author Oswald de Andrade in 1928. His manifesto was an assertion of the unique Brazilian voice in the emerging modern time, away from clichés of colonialism, while unapologetically metabolizing outside references from the First World. My reflexion seeks to update that anthropophagous practice to the digital age, where the virtual world is the new frontier and anyone can be a colonizer. Lately, the work has evolved to consider how Anthropopahgy is a devouring of the earth by Capitalocene forces. This was reflected in the most recent performance (above image) in 2016 at Kultursymposium Weimar The Sharing Game. Exchange in Culture and Society, where the boat (a recurring protagonist in the staged work) becomes a refugee raft among a sea of garbage). This work was initiated in May 2009 and completed in July 2010. But as the work itself is anthropophagic in nature, it morphs and acquires new insights depending on the context of where and when the performance is presented. 

Above: at Emergeandsee conference 2012. 

Below: the performance-lecture premiered at ISEA2010/RUHR in Dortmund, 

E-Culture Conference section: Cyborgs and Transhumans. 24.8.2010, manifesto read, eaten, and shared with audience members.

transmediale.11 2.2.2011. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

At transmediale.11 (photos below) the performance was adapted to the specific date of presentation – as February 2 is the day of the Afrobrazilian deity Yemanjá, I dedicated my presentation to the Yorubá Goddess of the Seas, because this deity is herself a result of a cultural remix of African, Amerindian, and European elements. So I built a boat (symbolic of making offerings to Iemanjá) in which I read my Digital Anthropophagy theory and recited my Anthropophagic Re-Manifesto for the Digital Age. When I finished the reading, I ate a piece of the manifesto and shared it as an ”eucharist” with the audience. Then I invited the audience to deposit offerings in the Anthropophagic Boat to Iemanjá. Following, I called up a spiritual center of the Yorubá religion in Brazil via Skype to ask for their blessing before sending the boat in the virtual sea (video projection of the ocean recorded in Rio de Janeiro). The performance ended with a Q&A session with the audience while the boat “sailed” through the turbulent waters of cultural cannibalism. 

Two images morph during the 25-minute lecture. The cannibals portrayed by Theodor de Bry for the books by Hans Staden in the 1500’s and the new fine young cannibals at the computer.

Stephen Kovats, Artistic Director of transmediale.11 introduces the presentation. A Q&A session followed at the end.

Above: Webcast from transmediale.11 and project page: http://www.transmediale.de/content/digital-anthropophagy-and-anthropophagic-re-manifesto-digital-age-presentation

Below: my recording with English subtitles.

The reading of The Anthropophagic Re-Manifesto for the Digital Age ends with a proclamation in latin “Cor inversum in se ipsum.” According to philosopher Vilém Flusser, it means the gesture inverted against itself, a deprogramming gesture against the programmed. In my view it is also a decolonizing gesture: to turn against the creator.

After the eating of the manifesto as a ritual eucharist, comes its sharing with the audience, scored by a musical remix of Indigenous chanting, followed by berimbau instrumentation over the Portuguese fado “Abandonment” by Amalia Rodrigues, a syncretic soundtrack for the proceedings.

Inscriptions painted on the boat: Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez sets sail with Digital Anthropophagy and The Anthropophagic Re-Manifesto for the Digital Age. 

On the inside: The Anthropophagic Boat to Iemanjá. Navigating virtually from Transmediale on February 2, 2011. Berlin, Germany. Iemanjá, mother mermaid queen of the sea, the waves so high, give me your hand to help me cross it. 

The closing ritual at the end of my performance: I invited the audience members to place offerings in the Anthropophagic Boat to Iemanjá. My own offerings: antique catechism book, Brazilian Cruzeiros money bill imprinted “United States of Brazil”, the Lord of Bonfim ribbons bearing my wishes of protection for my micro-chips. Also a compass and a map tracing a triangle formed by the places where I have lived, Rio de Janeiro, Kansas, New York, Berlin.