Llontop

The Llontop installation invites each attendee to use their own phone or a provided mobile device to look more deeply into cultural artifacts through innovative technologies. As the audience moves through the environment, they digitally commune with the heirlooms and experience a personalized audio journey through the creation of Llontop, which helps contextualize the live poetry performance that follows. A retelling of colonization from an Indigenous perspective, Irma Alvarez-Ccoscco’s haunting song-poems are set in specific moments of Quechua history—spanning from the brutal conquest of the Incas in 1532, through the eighteenth-century Indigenous uprising of Túpac Amaru II, and into the present-day resurgence of Quechua empowerment.

The poems are performed using Anonymous Ensemble’s signature live-film aesthetic, with projections, live music, and a simultaneous livestream of the performance for remote Zoom audiences. Each performance is followed by a conversation between the Llontop artists and audiences both in real space and across the Andean diaspora. Ultimately, Llontop is a powerful community experience that bridges the divides between North and South America and honors the people of the Andes—their language, their culture, their history, and their future.

Runtime: 90 minutes (60-minute Performance, 30-minute Conversation)

Installation opens 60 minutes before showtime – timed reservations available (approx. 15 minutes each group), with a warm welcome of Peruvian refreshments served in the lobby. Performance lasts approximately 60 minutes, and transitions into a Conversation with the audience, which lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Presented in partnership with Under the Radar Festival® Mark Russell, Founding Director

Meropi Peponides & Kaneza Schaal, Co-Directors

ArKtype, Festival Producer More information at utrfest.org