Aillaquillen: The Island of Nine Moons. Cosmovision and Animism in Performance
Peter Petkovsek, MFA
Volume 24, Number 2 (2025) 24 (2): 189-202
Keywords Intercultural theatre, Indigenous theatre, Mapuche theatre, environmental theatre, eco-theatre, Indigenous rights, environmental justice, cultural exchange, Mallolafken Lake, Chilean Indigenous environmentalism, Indigenous knowledge
Abstract
This essay examines the narrative of the co-created community theatre show Aillaquillen: The Island of Nine Moons, presented at the Liquen Cultural Centre in the town of Villarrica, Chile, in 2022. The show was the result of a practice research project, in which I partnered with local Mapuche activist Alejandra Aillapan Huiriqueo to explore how the intrinsic values of the Mapuche worldview or cosmovision and (new) animism could be translated into intercultural theatrical practice and the performance of an environmental narrative. The intercultural process of co-creation transformed my own approach to my surroundings and culminated in a performance that told a story out of local cultural and environmental necessity.
Peter Petkovsek, MFA
Published August 18, 2025
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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