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    Immerse Yourself in the Creative Culture of Peru’s Sacred Valley with Murmur Ring’s Unique Program

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    This June, explore the innovative work of Peruvian makers in Murmur Ring’s Immersion in the Sacred Valley.
    Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Immerse Yourself in the Creative Culture of Peru’s Sacred Valley with Murmur Ring’s Unique Program appeared first on Colossal. More

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      Immerse Yourself in the Creative Culture of Peru’s Sacred Valley with Murmur Ring’s Unique Program

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      All images courtesy of Murmur Ring, shared with permission

      Immerse Yourself in the Creative Culture of Peru’s Sacred Valley with Murmur Ring’s Unique Program

      November 25, 2025

      ArtCraftDesignPartner

      Murmur Ring

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      Experience design firm Murmur Ring, in partnership with Empathy and the Institute of Design, invites artists, designers, makers, and creatives of all kinds to join the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion from June 15 to 19, 2026, in Peru’s Sacred Valley. The Colossal team previously joined Murmur Ring for a transformative week-long immersion in Oaxaca, Mexico, and looks forward to joining this excursion, as well.

      This is not a tourist program. Mumur Ring’s Immersions are creative exchanges born from years of research and relationship-building. Intimate site visits with Peruvian makers and innovators offer rare, behind-the-scenes access to the perspectives, techniques, and community-centered models shaping the region’s most visionary work. Participants will find new inspiration, forge collaborative relationships, and leave with ideas that will transform their practices.

      In the coming weeks, Colossal will highlight several of the Peruvian makers whom participants will meet during the immersion, including Awamaki and Cerámicas Seminario.

      Awamaki—named for the Quechua word meaning “made by hand”—helps women weavers of the Andes access global markets, develop business skills, and build financial independence to sustain their communities for generations. Murmur Ring’s immersion will venture into the mountains to see this social enterprise model in action and:

      Meet the women weavers in their home communities

      Learn how raw fibers are harvested and naturally dyed using plants, minerals, and methods perfected for centuries

      Receive hands-on instruction in ancient weaving techniques, guided directly by master artists

      Share a home-cooked meal prepared by the artisans

      Purchase textiles directly from the cooperatives, ensuring 100% of payments go to the makers

      Since it began as an individual arts practice over 30 years ago, Cerámicas Seminario has evolved into a thriving studio blending ancient artistic language with a bold, contemporary visual style. The family-run business stands not only as a celebrated center of innovation in Peruvian ceramics but also as a powerful economic engine for its surrounding community. The immersion will allow participants to:

      Meet founders Pablo Seminario and Marilú Behar for a studio tour and Q&A

      Learn about their path to success from early explorations in clay to their commitment to building a community-centric enterprise

      See artisans at work, shaping, carving, and firing ceramic pieces

      Experience a hands-on ceramics workshop, where they’ll learn ancient techniques that inspired the studio’s signature style

      A place where food, land, art, and ancestral knowledge converge, MIL Centro is far more than a restaurant. It is an innovative research lab dedicated to preserving traditional Peruvian crops, restoring endangered agricultural practices, and sustaining the communities who have lived on and worked with this land for centuries. Theirs is a model that honors tradition, empowers community, and pushes the boundaries of what food, and art, can be. During a visit to MIL Centro, participants will:

      Forage for native plants alongside local land stewards, learning how each species functions as food, medicine, and craft

      Discover how Andean communities protect their local ecologies

      Use foraged plants to hand-dye and weave natural fibers

      Enjoy a multi-course meal, inspired by eight distinct Andean microclimates

      Early bird reservations are available through November 30, 2025. Apply now to secure your spot at the exclusive rate, and join us for an unforgettable journey into the creative soul of the Sacred Valley.

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      An A.I. Model Helped Uncover 303 Previously Unseen Nazca Lines in Peru

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      All images courtesy of Masato Sakai et al.

      An A.I. Model Helped Uncover 303 Previously Unseen Nazca Lines in Peru

      September 26, 2024

      Art History

      Grace Ebert

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      In 2022, we shared news of a monumental discovery at Peru’s Nazca Pampa, a UNESCO World Heritage site once home to pre-Inca Indigenous peoples who were fond of etching gargantuan artworks into the earth’s surface. Discovered in 1927, archaeologists spent nearly a century uncovering 430 figurative glyphs depicting animals, people, and hybrid creatures.

      But thanks to a new A.I.-trained system, researchers have identified an additional 303 drawings in just six months as detailed in a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Included in the findings are various birds, cats, ceremonial acts, and even a killer whale wielding a weapon.

      Dating back at least 2,000 years, the works offer insight into the cultural and spiritual practices of the ancient civilization. Although theories about the purpose of the lines range from calendars to agriculture and human migration, researchers know they were made by removing darker stones to reveal lighter, desert sand below.

      Whereas drones have helped to identify the giant line drawings that stretch across the desert, the A.I. model has been adept at detecting the smaller, relief-type renderings that mainly portray wild animals and are more difficult to find.

      The larger of the glyphs depict primarily humans, domesticated animals, and lone heads and “are typically located within viewing distance (on average 43 meters) of ancient trails that crisscross the Nazca Pampa and were most likely built and viewed at the individual or small-group level,” researchers say, noting that the smaller “are found an average of 34 meters from the elaborate linear/trapezoidal network of geoglyphs, which suggests that they were probably built and used on a community level for ritual activities.”

      Using aerial and satellite images of the site along with LIDAR data, archeologists trained the A.I. model to identify the sometimes imperceptible lines. The team then reviewed and confirmed the results by traveling to the location. They estimate that the A.I. model is 21 times faster at perceiving the works than humans. (via Smithsonian Magazine)

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      An Ancient Peruvian Site Reveals a Remarkable Painted Throne Room

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      All images courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, shared with permission

      An Ancient Peruvian Site Reveals a Remarkable Painted Throne Room

      September 25, 2024

      Art History Science

      Kate Mothes

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      Between about 350 and 850 C.E., a society known as the Moche thrived in the coastal valleys of northern Peru. Pañamarca, in the Nepeña Valley, is the southernmost center of the Moche culture and the site of a remarkable series of recent archaeological discoveries, including the latest: a monumental pillared hall with vibrantly painted walls.

      The Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca, founded in 2018, is a collaboration between Peruvian and U.S. archaeologists, art historians, and conservators. Its research and digs are supported by the National Geographic Society, the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University, and the Avenir Conservation Center at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

      This year, archaeologists uncovered a pillared room containing evidence of its use by a high-status female leader. Scenes depict the powerful woman receiving visitors in procession or seated upon a throne.

      “Scholars will debate whether the woman painted on the walls of the throne room is human or mythical (a priestess, goddess, or queen),” researchers say. “But the physical evidence of the throne, including the erosion to its back support and the recovery of greenstone beads, fine threads, and even human hair, make clear that it was occupied by a real living person—and the evidence all points to a seventh-century woman leader of Pañamarca.”

      The figure portrayed on the walls is associated with the crescent moon, the sea and its creatures, and the fiber arts. Additional murals uncovered this past July reveal a scene of an entire workshop of women spinning and weaving, along with a retinue of men carrying textiles and the leader’s crown—which includes her braids.

      Lisa Trever, professor of art history at Columbia University, says, “Pañamarca continues to surprise us, not only for the ceaseless creativity of its painters but also because their works are overturning our expectations of gender roles in the ancient Moche world.”

      The colorful wall paintings of Pañamarca were first recorded in the 1950s, depicting battles between supernatural beings, priests, warriors in procession, a unique two-faced man, and ceremonial activities.

      “Moche archaeology is well known for its rich, elite tombs, impressive architecture and artworks, and elaborate religious artifacts and imagery,” says a project statement. Atop a granite hill, the site consists of a stepped adobe platform, two lower platforms, a walled plaza, and a number of other structures.

      Dig deeper on the Pañamarca project’s website and Instagram.

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      13 Staircases Blanketed with Prismatic Murals Evocative of Andean Textiles Run Through Lima’s Hills

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      Art

      #murals
      #Peru
      #public art
      #stairs
      #street art

      October 13, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images by Jeremy Flores, © Xomotak, shared with permission
      Artist Xomatok (previously) translates the vibrant, geometric motifs of handwoven Andean blankets, or ilicllas, into large-scale works that mark the pathways through the hilly Alisos de Amauta neighborhood in Lima, Peru. Painted during the course of two months as part of Pinta Lima Bicentenario, the 13 interventions were a collaborative undertaking by the artist and local residents, who transformed the public staircases that wind through the district into multi-level canvases. The resulting patterns are kaleidoscopic and highlight a spectrum of bright colors and symmetries often associated with the traditional textiles. In a note to Colossal, Xomatok says community members will add to the project as a way to continue celebrating their cultural history, and you can take an aerial tour of the finished pieces on the artist’s Instagram.

      #murals
      #Peru
      #public art
      #stairs
      #street art

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      in Street Art

      Henry Chram in Huaraz, Perù

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      Peruvian artist Henry Chram reached us with these beautiful new murals that were just created in the city of Huaraz, the capital of the Ancash Region, North Perù. During his no-stop travelling activity, the muralist has painted delicate and silent portraits of girls hidden by flowers, on the walls of private or abandoned homes. Take […] More