‘The Spine’ is a fascinating research and art project by Isabel Burr Raty that starts from a single powerful concept: the spine of the Earth. The lecture performance draws a link between the spine of humans and that of the earth, holding space for ‘listening’ to the territory.
Burr Raty takes us on the initiatory journey of ‘The Spine’ on Easter Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She focuses on the original inhabitants, the Rapa Nui community, who still bear the impact of Chilean colonialism. They see ‘The Spine’ as a tool to unearth spiritual traditions and ancestral knowledge, allowing the project's path to run across their sacred and volcanic lands.
The lecture interweaves geography, history, audiovisual archives, herbal tinctures and ritual research and poses the profound question: How can land art serve as a network for regenerating together?
