Soil is the frontline of the battle for life on earth. Indigenous peasant women maintain the arts of subsistence. Human, soil and ecological health are inseparable. The Tinku Uku Pacha braids artistic, scientific and indigenous peasant perspectives on soil as subsistence, resistance, and creativity.

Following on from the first Soil Assembly held in Kochi, India in 2023, the second Assembly will be held in the indigenous peasant community of La Chimba in Olmedo, Ecuador, home to important women leaders such as Dolores Cacuango and Tránsito Amaguaña.

Tinku Uku Pacha – Soil Assembly #2 is a collaboration between the community of La Chimba, the Tránsito Amaguaña Community Intercultural Center (CICTA) and the Soil Assembly collective, with the support of the Mariano Aguilera contemporary art prize and the Centre of Contemporary Art Quito (CAC) and the Cayambe local government. Participation in the activities is free and open to all.

Uku Pacha in the kichwa language is the inside of the earth, the soil, minerals and fossils, springs and lakes, the unseen material basis of the living world. It is also the dimension of the ancestors and of those who are yet to be born. It is life and death, two headed snake of eternal renewal. Tinku means meeting and also conflict, the search for balance.

The Tinku Uku Pacha features exhibitions by Tau Luna Acosta (COL) and Ronny Albuja (ECU), resulting from their residences in the CICTA during April 2025, as well as an agroecological meeting (8 may), an international soil conference (9 may) and a ceremony with women indigenous leaders (10 may). In addition to a traditional singing contest with cash prizes and a celebrity jury, there will be concerts by Ñukanchi Taki, Jatun Mama y DJ Entrañas (chicha set) on the 10th of May as well as video-mappings, audiovisual experimentation and abundant food.

The principal activities will be streamed with simultaneous translation and there will be an area in Spore Berlin dedicated to receiving and participating in the Tinku from the 8th to the 10th of May.