“Culture in a Time of Crises” - Episode #8: Shwetal A. Patel in conversation with Ernesto Neto

In this episode, Ernesto Neto, a visual artist based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, talks to Shwetal A. Patel. Neto talks about his early years in Rio before discovering his passion for art, his spiritual journey after visiting the Huni Kuin tribe in the Amazonian state of Acre and his vision of arts role in society. Neto also talks passionately about Brazil’s musical and cultural traditions, its pre-colonial history and how to integrate indigenous knowledge systems into modern ways of living. The globally acclaimed sculptor also shares his experience with tribal expressions through music, dance, song, and oral history. Now with the pandemic devastating his country, Neto ruminates on mother earth and nature, and what the future holds for the next generation.