Protective Beings: The Superpowers of Nature. An Artistic Research Laboratory

Abstract

This article describes a collaborative educational and artistic project developed by the Instituto Colombiano de Anthropología e Historia (ICANH) and the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin. Protective stone figures from the Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín, some of which are also in the collections in Berlin, were the starting point and inspiration for the resulting workshop ‘Protective Beings. The Superpowers of Nature’. This workshop promotes ecological awareness among children in Berlin and San Agustín Colombia. A central focus of this foundational artistic research is to develop methods to empower children not to feel powerless in the face of climate change and species extinction, but to build and strengthen their self-efficacy. Through the encounter with the stone guardians, the children are enabled to reflect on both the relationships between different species and their own position in the world.