Biyukaskool is a preschool branching off of the FACE school in Bogota. This project was started in 2011 in Casa Biyuka in Taganga. It ran for a year in Casa Biyuka with the participation of  children from our neighborhood as well as the children of people looking for a school which could provide alternative education. Our initial intention with the project was to be able to provide quality education for our children as well as other children in our community for a very low price. Unfortunately the reality of maintaining high quality education at a low price was not feasible and we had to move to a more formal setting in the city of Santa Marta. Biyukaskool applies all of the pedagogical techniques of FACE (fundacion para la actualisacion de la educaccion), one of the pioneering schools for alternative education in Colombia with  30 years experience.

www.biyukaskool.com

www.face.edu.co

El Ensueño is a 15 hectar rural laborary and living space located on Palomino river, one hour walking distance from the Palomino village in the Guajira department of Colombia.

El Ensueño was bought by Intermundos in 2009 and has since been in a process of recuperation and habilitation. Most of its 15 hectares forest was cut down in the 80s to make way for illegal crop cultivation and today what exists is a low jungle habitat of young trees. We have since planted local trees for timber, bamboo, fruit trees, have installed running water and solar electricity as well a started to terrace zone 1 of El Ensueño in order to plant food crop etc.

El Ensueño is being developed together with Felipe Rague (and family!) from Ereciclaje; experts and pioneers in Colombia working with recycling and perma-culture. To see more about Ereciclaje please visit:

www.ereciclaje.com

El Ensueño is located inside the Kogi indigenous reserve and in front to the Arahuaco indigenous reserve. Our objective is that El Ensueño become a sustainable cultural project and farm as well as an ongoing laboratory for alternative living practices which abide to millenary traditions as well as embracing and developing sustainable technologies. We will be starting our residency and volunteer program during 2013 and hope to host our first seminars in 2014.

Colombian Caribbean network of knowledge and crafts

Open project to connect independent organizations form the Colombian Caribbean coast with the objective of fomenting an articulated, visible and autonomous region at both a cultural and media level.

Red Caribe is for:

Artist and communication collectives; cultural associations; community radios; community associations; art institutions; music and cultural centers; media laboratories; hacklabs; artist residencies; sustainable farms, channels of communication; the independent; the institutional; the open; the experimental; the traditional; the millinery; etc.

We are providing events and tools in order to recognize each other; locate each other on the map; identify our resources and necessities; share; communicate and support each other.

When and how did Red Caribe start:

July 2012 through the initiative of Intermundos and Fundacion Cultural Cazadores de Auroras. Both organizations sent a call to various other cities and towns of the Caribbean Colombian coast in order to bring together organizations for a first reunion in the Museo del Caribe during the TREWA ART&TEC festival in Barranquillia. A second reunion took place during October 2012 also in Barranquilla between Intermundos and different local collectives. During January 2013, a third reunion was made possible in Cartagena through the event La Otra Cartagena.

Evolution:

This project is in development. It has no financing at this point, it is grass roots, open and horizontal. All efforts have been made possible throught voluntary work. Our objective is to be able to create an autonouns platform that will will be sucessful in the long term and will not need outside financing. As the Arahuco people say “Work without rushing and without stopping”.

www.redcaribe.org

Konecting the dispersed energies with the low frequencies!

This program aired from the SUBA neighborhood in BOGOTA from March 2004 to 2006 every Thursday from 5 to 6 pm. Its objective was to widespread hip hop culture in Bogota, Colombia from a local/global perspective;  artists from the local and national hiphop scene participated in the program, inviting guests from the different ramifications of hiphop: breakdance; rap;graffiti; DJ etc. We presented artists live, including live perfomance and interviews.

This program contributed to organizing the hip hop scene in the neighborhood of SUBA and strengthening Bogota’s scene.

From the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, Residencias Intermundos offers a space for free creation, experimentation and investigation for those residents which would like to develop their own projects or support projects of Intermundos or related to the cultural context of the region. Our main areas of interest are ecological sustainability / independence from the global economy / autonomous technologies / open systems / permaculture and similar. The two physical spaces that we offer for the residencies have been and will continue to be developed as living laboratories: places to live in, which aim at becoming completely autonomous after some time and through a collective construction between ourselves and the residents and volunteers involved in the program.

Objectives of Residencias Intermundos

• To offer a space for investigation or creative projects related to the environment, alternative and open technologies, sustainability, community development, cultural patrimony preservation and education.
• Generate exchanges with the Taganga and Palomino community, the Colombian Caribbean region and the world.
• Generate spaces for socializing our experiences at a virtual and analog level; radio programs, catalogues, web publications, audio visual products, live events etc.

Our residencies are open to:

Artists, writers, journalists, curators, musicians, inventors, ecologists, hackers, farmers, musicians, communicators etc.; with professional titles or not; artists and independent creators; people with experience in community work.

For complete information, please visit our residency blog (only in spanish).

What is Vokaribe?

It is a community radio station at the service of the residents of the neighborhoods in the soutwest sectors of the city of Barranquilla (Colombia). Its programming will basically be directed and produced by the neighbors of this sector of the city. It will be possible to listen to Vokaribe on the 89.6 FM frequency which will the entire southwestern section of the city. Also , through Vokaribe.net, the radio station will reach a worldwide audience.

The coordinating board of Vokaribe is made up of 19 social organizations which represent the different sectors of Barranquilla, we encourage the participation above all of young people and women in the coordination of Vokaribe. The main partners coordinating Vokaribe 89.6 are Foundation Cultural Cazadores de Auroras Biblioteca Popular del Barrio la Paz and Intermundos.

Vokaribe was born in 1995 as an association. Since 2008 the project was reorganized as a pilot radio project.

WWW.VOKARIBE.NET

Hi everybody

Things are moving quickly for this week’s exciting dance off battle between Brasil, Colombia, Pakistan and Manchester nd throughout the week please keep coming back to see what names are adding to the list.

Some quick insights of people who are performing or donating us tracks of music:

Baba Israel (www.babaisrael.com)
Sakiztik (www.myspace.com/sadiztikuk)
DNCN (www.myspace.com/dncnmusic)
Sadam Insane and Lady Muk
Marco Roberts (http://www.myspace.com/marco2life)

and many many more……there are many styles of music and so far we have capoeiristas, b-boys, belly dancers, contemporary dancers and we want more genres and influences for the live fusion! Get in touch if you want a slot during the event.

The event will start early and end late to ensure that we get time to battle with each country and to give you a chance to take part in free, informal workshops in VJing, Djing, MCing/beatboxing and of course different dance styles.

The clip online shows a very quick example of what happened during a mini test in september and what you cand see online is Colombia dancing to us – - they can see us and we can see them! And there will be more of the same with us mixing and fusing live music, video and audio throughout the event.

Videos from last two Dance Off´s:

Family home / Intermundos headquarters / Permaculture lab

Since 2008 Casa Biyuka has been growing like a living mushroom in Taganga, a fishing village near Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

This house has been baptized Casa Biyuka after the Biyuka creek which  was almost forgotten until 2010 when it decided to run once more after 50 years of dry silence. Miraculously, this creek ran in the valley below our house for 6 month in 2010 and 3 months in 2011.

Casa Biyuka is to serve as; the home of the Pellegrino/ Gocksch family; as the systema Solar recording studio; Intermundos offices and as a ongoing investigation project for sustainable housing.  Casa Biyuka is also one of the the bases of Residencias Intermundos which is a residency program open to  musicians,  artists, ecologists, communicators, volunteers etc. who whish to to spend a period of time working with us in projects for the community or to develop their own investigations and projects.

The natural conditions of Taganga where the house sits are very dry; there is almost 6 months of absolutely no rain per year and no running water system reaches this property. Water in Casa Biyuka today is our main challenge and so we consider this house to be a laboratory for future scenario housing (in a world with limited water resources).  The house is being constructed with ecology and sustainability in mind, most of the materials used are from the land or recycled. The house collects rainwater, has dry bathrooms and passive cooling. We are constructing a blog where the process is being documented (in Spanish) in order that others may learn from our experiences. We hope that our experimental house / living system will eventually be as close as possible to autonomous as we can make it and serve as an inspiration to our community.

To see blog with details of construction process:casa BIYUKA

Zhigoneshi

During the middle of the eighties, the Mamas (spiritual leaders) of the tribes from the Sierra Nevada decided that it was time to reach out to the world and share their knowledge. In 1990 a documentary directed by Alan Ereira called ” From the Heart of the World, The elders brothers warning”was produced by BBC which was the first to feature the word of the indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada. In 2004 a group of indigenous people from the Gonawindua Tayrona Organization conformed the Zhigoneshi (we all help each other to help all) Communication Center in order to learn how to produce media and be able to represent themselves instead of being represented by third parties. They have received training in media communication techniques and have started to produce documentaries, photographs and a magazine.

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Gonawindua) is an isolated mountain range apart from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. Reaching an altitude of 5,700 metres above sea level just 42 km from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the world’s highest coastal range.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_de_Santa_Marta

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is home to the remnants of the native American Tairona Culture; Arhuacos, Koguis, Wiwas and Kankuamos, that live in Resguardos Indigenas (Indian reserves) located in the mid-highlands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_de_Santa_Marta

“The Kogui are descendants of the Tairona culture, which flourished at the time of the Spanish conquest, and have been living in isolation for generations.

Their mythology teaches that they are “Elder Brothers” of humanity, living in the “Center of the World” (the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta). Those not living in the Center of the World (generally people from the west) are called “Younger Brothers.” Their mythology suggests that these Younger Brothers were sent away from the center of the world long ago. In response to infringements on their homeland by westerners, a legend arose claiming the Younger Brothers had now found their way back, and were reaping their destruction on the land.”

“ …the world doesn’t have to end; it could go on, but unless we stop violating the earth and nature, depleting The Great Mother of her material energy, her organs, her vitality; unless people stop working against the Great Mother, the world will not last ”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koguis

The Arhuacos live in the upper valleys of the Piedras River, San Sebastian river, Chichicua River, Ariguani River and Guatapuri River, in an Indian Reservation in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains. Their traditional territory before the Spanish colonization, was larger than today’s boundaries which exclude many of their sacred sites that they continue to visit today, to pay offerings. These lost territories are the lower parts by the steps of the mountains, lost to colonization and farming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arhuacos

“ The mamos say that they are the keepers of the world, because the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the place where the world was created ; the spirit of all things are here in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and therefor it is our responsibility to take care of the world, A responsibility shared by the four tribes. If the ice caps of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta melt the mamos believe it means that the world ends”

Amado Villafana

Photos courtesy of Zhigoneshi communication group

Drawing by Fat – Barranquilla

“The other sopresa has been the richness of the social rap movement here. It is one of the few available spaces for real dialogue in this country with its complex and crazy war, and feels like the next generation of the protest poetry we studied at Umass. Colombian hiphop stretches both mind and heart; it is a complex mix of poesia, periodismo, y politica, of protestas, prophecias y ritmos. In its attempt to provide an alternative news source as told from the inside out and not the outside in, it is reminiscent of the testimonio movement in Central America, though its griots are younger and generally more urban. Like testimonios and like traditional protest poetry, hiphop here tells the stories of people whose voices we would otherwise not hear, stories of social cleansing, displacement, blatant racism, police brutality. It speaks out against the violence that erupts from all sides, analyzing not only its effects but its roots. It breaks down the exploitation of U.S. imperialism and the implications of a “globalized” economy on an uneven playing field. ”

Ruth Henry – Boston

In 2009 Intermundos releases the first audiovisual package to come out Internationally about Colombian hip hop, a cultural expression which has been adopted and adapted by the Colombian youth since the early 90′s and has flourished in all of Colombia’ principal cities. The DVD includes the feature length documentary Frekuensia Kolombiana as well as the first documentary about Colombian hip hop – Testimonios Hip Hop Colombiano, also included are nine video clips by different Colombian hip hop artists. The CD is the first compilation of Colombian hip hop to come out internationally and includes 18 tracks of Colombia’s finest hip hop from Bogotá, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla. Also included in the package is a 36 page booklet with lyrics translated to English and a variety of information about the groups featured and their cultural and social background. All of the artwork was done by Bogotá’s freshest stencil crew Excusado Print System. This is an independent project made possible by Intermundos, a grass roots non for profit based in Colombia.
Visit Frekuensia’s website:
www.frekuensiakolombiana.com
www.myspace.com/frekuensiakolombiana

You can visit our old hip hop site for more info on Colombian hiphop, reports from the beginning of the 2000 decade.
www.intermundos.org/hiphopcolombia1.htm

Also a page we created for a hip hop collective called La HeroiK from Cartagena de Indias on the Caribbean coast. La HeroiK was the collective that started the movement in Cartagena, offering access to equipment, a space to practice, workshops, films etc. La HeroiK was run and made possible by Nicanor Orozco.
http://intermundos.org/heroik.htm