A project by Victor Molina and Hannah Machajdik

Created throughout the class Relational Landscapes taught by Myriel Milicevic, Andres Burbano and Thiago da Costa Oliveira at Fachhochschule Potsdam during wintersemester 2021/2022.

Research

Ayahuasca is a pan-Amazonian psychoactive brew made out of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine (yagé), the Psychotria viridis shrub (chacruna), and possibly other ingredients. It is used both socially and as ceremonial spiritual medicine among some indigenous peoples of the Amazon. When consumed, it can cause an altered state of consciousness, including visual hallucinations and altered perceptions of reality. Ayahuasca ceremonies are getting increasingly popular around Europe and the United States and since some years tourism to South America for the purpose of taking it has grown a lot. Ayahuasca retreats are now getting founded around the world, enabling everyone to take part in the experience, may it be in a traditional or nontraditional way.

In this project we wanted to look further into the interconnectedness between Europe and South America, focussing on the boundary object, practice or concept of ayahuasca, contemplating how the cultural, social, geographical and economic landscapes around it have changed throughout the years.

Ayahuasca is known by many names such as caapi, cipo, hoasca, vegetal, uni, natem or shori. In the quechua languages, aya can be translated as spirit, soul, corpse or dead body and waska means rope, woody vine or liana. The word ayahuasca has been variously translated as liana of the soul, liana of the dead or spirit liana. Going back in history, ayahuasca was probably discovered by western society in the 19th century during the time of expeditions to the southamerican continent. Indigenous peoples in the Amazon already used the plant a long time before. The international interest in the brew, its medical qualities and the spiritual concepts around it has grown in recent years, making cities like Iquitos in Peru, nowadays a stronghold of ayahuasca tourism, popular destinations for many tourists.

The landscape of Iquitos has changed a lot during the last few years due to ayahuasca related tourism. The area was long inhabited by indigenous peoples and the city was probably founded around 1757 by Spanish Jesuits. It grew a lot during the Amazon rubber boom, where indigenous workers were kept in near slavery conditions. Then rubber seedlings were smuggled to Southeast Asia, undercutting prices of the Peruvian product. Now Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors in Iquitos as the city receives a considerable number of foreigners every year. Ayahuasca is known as a major cultural landmark, and spiritual tourism has increased tremendously. This boom can be noticed in the change of landscape throughout the last few decades. The city has expanded further into the amazon, hotels and ayahuasca retreats were built in the city but also the forests around it, by locals as well as by foreigners trying to make money out of commercializing the ayahuasca experience.

In Germany, Ayahuasca is illegal. Still, there are several retreats offering ayahuasca ceremonies. Instead of the Psychotria viridis leafs, which are prohibited because of their high DMT component, they use Peganum Harmala seeds, creating a grey zone that makes it possible to consume a similar brew. Some of the retreats fly in indigenous people from the amazon to guide the ceremonies, but most of the time they are guided by europeans claiming to be shamans due to years of experience with the brew. The retreats are often located in already existent houses away from the city. Still, the nature around it can’t be compared to the original experience in South America.

Interview

During our research, we had the chance to speak to a shaman of the amazonian tribe Shuar in Ecuador. He guides traditional ayahuasca experiences in his community and has gained his knowledge about the brew, the plants involved and the ceremonies around it through many years of training and experience. It was very important to us to not only include mostly European or North American sources but to get the point of view of someone who practices ayahuasca rituals in a traditional and non-touristic way as a part of their culture.

In the interview he talks about his view on the concept of spirituality, spiritual tourism, the economic profit from it and his own path of learning about ayahuasca. Here you can listen to it:

Visualization

After gathering a lot of information about ayahuasca, reading many articles, watching documentaries, doing the interview and talking to friends and family about their opinion on spiritual tourism, we started thinking about how to visualize the knowledge we had gained for sharing it with others. We really wanted to include a visualization of the liana and incorporate some of the psychedelic patterns that are often used to describe ayahuasca journeys.

According to the principle, that every story should be reflected in our vine, we modeled a Banisteriopsis caapi vine using a 3D software. The aim of our interface is to visualize each story that arrives via interviews, surveys, articles which generates international connections based on a single object, ayahuasca.

The result is an augmented reality liana, that can grow anywhere in the world, by just scanning a QR-code with your phone. Once it's placed, you can walk around it and find a lot of information, articles about and experiences of ayahuasca collected on little tokens that are placed in different parts of the plant.

A vine grows without limits, it takes on its own shape according to its interaction with space. Our 3D model is represented by a circulating and infinite axis. There are three roots at the top that intertwine with each other, as it descends it generates a harmonic braid.

You can experience it yourself by downloading the AR-media player app to your phone and scan the QR-code underneath.

The liana in Berlin, Germany / Ecuador

The liana in Bilbao, Spain

Reflection

(Victor) Taking ayahuasca as an object that travels networks has allowed me to generate knowledge and understanding of what exists behind this drink. This process has been very enriching both personally and spiritually and has allowed me to visualise a totally different context to what I have experienced in Latin America. Writing, talking, researching and designing has been a very interesting method of enquiry and research. Looking back in time I feel that each of the stages has allowed me to create the result that today is exposed in this documentation. I am very interested in being able to take this topic in the future and take it to another level by generating new relational landscapes.

(Hannah) This class in general has definitely broadened my view on connections and entanglements between South America and Europe. Most of the things we discussed weren't new to me, but I never looked at them that closely before. It was also amazing to profit from the knowledge and points of view of our guest lecturers and the experts at the botanical garden in Berlin and at the symposium. Before starting this project, ayahuasca to me was some drug that you had to vomit from and that weird American youtubers made videos about, claiming that it changed their lives. I don't know if I, being German, will ever completely comprehend the concept of spirituality and community and the understanding of nature behind these rituals, but I have definitely gotten a few steps closer to seeing the significance and profundity of ayahuasca and it's intertwingularity with Europe. 

One challenge for us was to sort through the tons of information there is about ayahuasca on the internet and find out what to focus on. We were very fascinated by the perception of spirituality in South America and sometimes forgot to make the relation to Europe clear enough. But in the end we did find some connections, the main one being spiritual tourism and appropriation of the ayahuasca practice by Europeans. With more time we would have loved to fill the liana with more information and experiences and maybe work on a system of placing the tokens in a specific places. Still, we are very content with the visual outcome of the liana and the fact, that you can place it anywhere in the world.