INSTITUTO TROPICAL
A TERRAIN FOR ROOTING KNOWLEDGE
ART SITUATED IN THE LAND
ART SITUATED IN THE LAND
Instituto Tropical is a trans-disciplinary and collective initiative at the convergence between art and eco-social transformation. .
Instituto Tropical works tropicalizing art and discourse through Mestizo*, First Nations, and Caribbean ontologies, in order to contest the monoculture of thought and practice that has brought about the current crisis.
Conceived as a third space for artistic practices beyond the western** models of white cube and black box, Instituto Tropical offers a porous site of gathering where compass points are understood as relational and situated. Seeking to activate multinatural pespectives within contemporary artistic practices and forms of institutionalisation.
Instituto Tropical follows the model of the Tropical Institution***, which draws associatively on the diversity of the tropics—from rainforests to deserts—their implication as heliotropic zones and areas of atmospheric circulation, and connects it with 'trope' as a collective term for rhetorical figures.
From Indigenous perspectives, being—or dwelling—is understood not as an abstract condition but as a relational practice: an ongoing engagement of reciprocity with life, territory, and others. Within this framework, what western traditions have defined as 'art' can instead be understood as a practice of collective strengthening and blooming, grounded in relationality, healing, restoration, and transformation.
Working practically with feeding systems and embodied forms of knowledge, we aim to cultivate renewed and generative relationships with the land. Composting, germinating and blooming, other, less extractive ways of knowing and inhabiting.
With locations in the rural context of Zacualpan de Amilpas Morelos in Mexico and in the City of Vienna, Austria Instituto Tropical builds upon the strong historical bond between Europe and Abya Yala**** (the American continent). Working through its different programs on establishing ties of solidarity, dialogue and exchange between the global north and the global south.
*Ch’ixi, a concept alternative to the notion of Mestizo, developed by Aymara thinker Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui. It describes the coexistence of distinct and contradictory elements without their fusion into a single identity. Rather than seeking synthesis, ch’ixi embraces tension, multiplicity, and the possibility of different ways of knowing existing together without one absorbing the other.
** Glissant, Édouard. Caribbean Discourse: Selected Essays. Translated by J. Michael Dash. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989.
*** "The Tropical Institution sees itself structurally and aesthetically committed to a decolonisation of the senses." Haitzinger, Nicole. "The Tropical Institution: The School of the Jaguar et al." In The School of the Jaguar. Endangered Human Movements, Vol. 3. Vienna: BMfB – Bundesministerium für Bewegungsangelegenheiten, 2019, p. 277.
**** Abya Yala is the Guna name for the landmass later renamed "America" by European colonizers. Often translated as "Land of Vital Blood" , "Land in Its Full Maturity," or "Land in Bloom", the term expresses an Indigenous understanding of the continent as a living territory rather than a geopolitical entity.
IN MEXICO
- Artists in residency program
- School of Earth
- Siembra
Instituto Tropical is located in Zacualpan de Amilpas, at the base of the Popocatépetl volcano in the state of Morelos. The institute exists in close vicinity to various indigenous villages and stands in strong and long term relation to various Indigenous teachers.
This territory holds layered histories, pre-Hispanic agricultural systems, colonial extractive plantations, and contemporary regenerative practices.
The land itself is our primary collaborator: volcanic soil, seasonal water cycles, native and introduce species, and the communities who have cultivated this knowledge across centuries. We don’t just work about ecology, we work with ecosystems.
Instituto Tropical addresses the colonial imaginary and history present in the region and its architecture, by placing relation and dialogue at the core of its practice. Through collective work and understanding art as a form of knowledge and transformation we propose to situate artistic practices within the land at a rural level.
International guests and locals are hosted through artistic research residencies aiming at topicalizing artistic practices through collaborative processes that engage with local crafts, ancestral knowledges and feeding systems.
Embeded within Fig and Citrus agricultural projects, the space unfolds as a horizontal school—a place where knowledge is exchanged, traditions are reimagined, and the many ‘hands’ shaping creative processes, both human and more-than-human, are recognized and honoured.
Like the magmatic force of the Popocatepetl, the volcano that looms over Zacualpan de Amilpas, diverse practices and worldviews converge, flow, and erupt—giving rise to new forms of expression, resistance, adaptation and possibility.
“None of us is better than all of us together”—Piripkura* peoples
*The Piripkura are an indigenous tribe who inhabit the Piripkura Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
This territory holds layered histories, pre-Hispanic agricultural systems, colonial extractive plantations, and contemporary regenerative practices.
The land itself is our primary collaborator: volcanic soil, seasonal water cycles, native and introduce species, and the communities who have cultivated this knowledge across centuries. We don’t just work about ecology, we work with ecosystems.
Instituto Tropical addresses the colonial imaginary and history present in the region and its architecture, by placing relation and dialogue at the core of its practice. Through collective work and understanding art as a form of knowledge and transformation we propose to situate artistic practices within the land at a rural level.
International guests and locals are hosted through artistic research residencies aiming at topicalizing artistic practices through collaborative processes that engage with local crafts, ancestral knowledges and feeding systems.
Embeded within Fig and Citrus agricultural projects, the space unfolds as a horizontal school—a place where knowledge is exchanged, traditions are reimagined, and the many ‘hands’ shaping creative processes, both human and more-than-human, are recognized and honoured.
Like the magmatic force of the Popocatepetl, the volcano that looms over Zacualpan de Amilpas, diverse practices and worldviews converge, flow, and erupt—giving rise to new forms of expression, resistance, adaptation and possibility.
“None of us is better than all of us together”—Piripkura* peoples
*The Piripkura are an indigenous tribe who inhabit the Piripkura Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
IN AUSTRIA
- A Studio
- An Office
- A Temporal Exhibition Space
The studio and exhibition space located in the 9th Viennese district, serves as an office and headquarters of Instituto Tropical in Vienna. Closely linked to its Mexican counterpart in Zacualpan de Amilpas. The space fosters encounters between these distinct yet interconnected ecosystems.
Each two years the space turns into a gallery to showcase the work at the Institute and give visibility to its associated artists and artists in residence. In this Biennial exhibition we present the artistic work and agricultural work developed in Mexico.
As a glocal window to the Viennese artistic scene Instituto Tropical Vienna grants visibility to the work developed in Mexico questioning the existing landscape of institutionalized artistic production within the contexts of the climate crisis.
Through connecting artists and researchers with the project in México, Instituto Tropical in Vienna cultivates a shared terrain where artistic and ecological knowledge can circulate, generating meaningful exchanges that bridge geographies, disciplines, and ways of knowing.
Instituto Tropical in Vienna serves as a meeting ground where two distinct ecosystems—Zacualpan de Amilpas and the European arts context—intersect.
Each two years the space turns into a gallery to showcase the work at the Institute and give visibility to its associated artists and artists in residence. In this Biennial exhibition we present the artistic work and agricultural work developed in Mexico.
As a glocal window to the Viennese artistic scene Instituto Tropical Vienna grants visibility to the work developed in Mexico questioning the existing landscape of institutionalized artistic production within the contexts of the climate crisis.
Rooted in exchange, the office fosters dialogue between Western and non-Western perspectives, bridging practices and knowledges while actively engaging Vienna’s multicultural communities and their role in shaping the city’s identity.
Photography by Mafalda Rakoš, Amanda Piña and Michel Jiménez.
