DER "MAYA" ZUG
in collaboration with IQ BALAM - Juan José Chiriz Cuat and the activist group Recherche AG
Urban and Digital Installation, Germany, 2022-ongoing
What is the connection between a train being built in Central America and the Deutsche Bahn?
On the Yucatán Peninsula, a mega-infrastructure project is being driven forward with the financial backing of several European companies, including German ones.
In collaboration with Maya scholar and indigenous leader IQ BALAM – Juan José Chiriz Cuat, this project investigates the impact of the "Maya" Train, reinterpreting big neoliberal projects through a decolonial lens. These infrastructures, built on indigenous land and financed by Western transnational corporations, reproduce and perpetuate colonial dynamics. The collaboration results in a symbolic image developed together and printed on posters and stickers across the city, especially in trains and train stations. A QR code links to an audio story narrated by IQ BALAM, alongside sources and data on the topic: https://www.mayazugproject.com
The project was presented during the exhibition 'THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG – Räume für Aktivierung' (Galerie M, Berlin, 2022), accompanied by a program of open-air events such as outdoor film screenings and informational evenings on the topic curated in cooperation with the activist group Recherche AG and with the neighbourhood association BENN.
Funded by the degewo, the Commission for Artistic and Scientific Projects (KKWV) of the UdK Berlin, and supported by BENN - Berlin Entwickelt Neue Nachbarschaften.
Selected as finalist in the Contrat Social 21 competition (2023) by the MRL (Maison Rousseau et Littérature) and the Domaine de Villette Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland.
COLLABORATOR BIO: Juan José Chiriz Cuat, Maya name IQ BALAM, is a Maya priest, activist and musician from the Maya Kaqchikel community. He is a researcher in ancestral knowledge and natural medicine who has studied 'Rights of Indigenous Peoples'. He is actively involved in transmitting knowledge of Mayan spirituality and preserving indigenous culture through various NGOs and local art academies. He has lectured nationally and internationally on topics such as Mayan cosmovision, ancestral knowledge, good living, and indigenous peoples' rights. He is also a member of inter-institutional state roundtables on indigenous peoples and climate change.
