Largest weaving in the world will be exhibited in santiago: the “Tononwitral” exhibit is now open

The exhibition will be open to view until January 2023 at the Artequin Museum. It includes various pieces from the Mapuche world, as well as cultural and traditional demonstrations. “Ngüren” will be on display, a woven piece nearly one kilometer in length that was certified this year as the largest of its kind.

From September 12th 2022 to January 29th 2023, the “Tononwitral: Cuentos tejidos del sur del mundo” exhibit [Tales woven in the southern part of the world] will be open to the public at the Artequin Museum in Santiago, which is being carried out in collaboration with CMPC. Various articles woven on a loom and its component parts will be shown. In addition, it will delve into traditional medicine, use of plants and herbs, natural heritage, and other topics.

One of the attractions of the exhibition will be the “Ngüren”, the largest weaving in the world that was made this year by 426 Mapuche weavers from different parts of the country. It has exceeded the previous record set by weavers in China. The national work represents a Relmü, or rainbow in the Mapudungun language.

Carolina Pérez, Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage highlighted the value of the exhibition that will be available to view until January 2023. She said, “I believe that an exhibition like this, at the moment we find ourselves in as a country, is deeply relevant because it opens the door to the Mapuche worldview, a worldview of a people that as a State we owe a huge debt. A historical debt, which unfortunately most of the people who reside in this country are unaware of (…) I think it is indeed an exhibition that suggests we ask ourselves what kind of country we want to weave together, how we recognize each other, how we understand the values of different cultures, and how we understand the spaces that those cultures fill in our country.”

The exhibition will be located on the first floor of the Paris Pavilion in the museum. It will have different areas set up by concept including basketry, weavings, native species, medicinal herbs, animals, and others.

Carmen Vergara, one of the co-founders of Artequin and president of the board of directors of the Artequin Space for Art Corporation, thanked the Mapuche weavers who decided to exhibit their work at the museum, as well as CMPC for its contribution to the world record. Vergara said, “Welcome to woven, a concept that inspired this exhibition. Weft, fabric, texture, strand, mesh. This exhibition unites two worlds that are both made up of fiber. First, trees form the basis of the wood and pulp industry, and then there’s weaving, a traditional art practiced for hundreds of years by Mapuche women. We will learn about fiber, basketry, looms, native species, medicinal herbs, birds and, above all, we will hear living testimonies from the weavers and artisans.”

CMPC Chairman Luis Felipe Gazitúa said, “Right in the midst of the pandemic I had the opportunity to participate in a diploma course on Mapuche culture and language. I learned a lot from my teachers, including Ariel Traipi Huilipán, President of the Chilka Foundation, who led this remarkable effort to create, together with local weavers, the largest weaving in the world. In those classes I learned about kimche, norche, kümeche and newenche, the positive qualities that define and characterize each Mapuche person. These are expressions tell us about the value of knowledge, acting righteously, transparently and wisely. These are also such universal and core principles for our daily coexistence, that arise to dissolve those vast distances that some would like to place in between our ancestral cultures and later or current societies.”

Tononwitral means weaving, which is precisely what can be found in the exhibition. A network of the tangible and intangible heritage of the Mapuche world. This exhibition is a new way of narrating that which is passed down from generation to generation in the culture of this native group.

This “weaving” will be made up of two parts, one that refers to the fiber-made objects and the other is traditional mapuche medicine, discussing more than 40 native species endemic to Chile.
Lastly, executive Executive Director of the Artequin Museum Yennyferth Becerra said, “In this month of September that we celebrate our traditional national history, what better than to invite children, young people and their families, to be part of this incredible journey through the culture and heritage of the south of The World: Chile.”

“TONONWITRAL: Cuentos tejidos del sur del mundo” 

WHERE/ Artequin Santiago Museum (Avda. Portales 3530, Estación Central)  

DATES/ From 13 September 2022 through 29 January 2023  

HOURS/ Tuesday through Friday 09:00 AM to 5:00 PM Weekends and holidays 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM Closed Mondays

ENTRY FEE/ CLP 2,500 General Admission; CLP 1,000 children, students and senior citizens. Sunday Admission with Conscious Contribution