«Forest Law» – Ursula Biemann & Paulo Tavares

Ursula Biemann (Zurich) & Paulo Tavares (Quito/Londres) «Forest Law» at the 13th Bienal de Artes Mediales

Ursula Biemann is an artist, writer and video-essayist, based in Zürich (Switzerland). She researches climate change and the impact of global movement, addressing ecologic and migration issues.

«Forest Law» (2014) is the result of research carried out in the Equatorial Amazon, in November 2013, where the biodiversity-rich land is being exploited on a large scale by mining activities, due to the mineral wealth of the area. The project was carried out in collaboration with Brazilian architect Paulo Tavares, and the result is a two-channel video installation, displaying a series of legal cases and the fight of both indigenous leaders and scientists in court. One of the landmark cases was that of the  Kichwa people from Sarayaku, who recently won trial arguing the importance of the living jungle (Kawsak Sacha), where nature is no longer the scenario of political disputes, but a subject of rights.