Enabling Difficult Conversations: Quemar las patas del Imperio
Sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences
Experience an evening of digital art and dialogue at the University of Virginia, featuring four short experimental films by Federico Cuatlacuatl, Associate Professor of Art in Digital Art at UVA. Curated by Erika Hirugami of UCLA—an art historian and curator whose scholarship centers on the aesthetics of undocumentedness—the program explores how art can enable reflection and connection across histories, cultures, and identities.
Anchored by the premiere of Quemar las patas del Imperio (2025), commissioned by the College of Arts & Sciences Global Spanish Initiative, this special screening reimagines time, migration, and resilience through Indigenous Nahua cosmology and ancestral knowledge. The event will take place in the Contemplative Commons, a space designed to foster presence, mindfulness, and meaningful exchange.
The program will open with remarks from Dean Christa Acampora and conclude with a Q&A with the artist, curator, and Kody Grant, UVA Tribal Liaison.
Following the program, guests are invited to enjoy refreshments and conversation, with an opportunity to connect with the artists, scholars, and fellow attendees.
Part of the Enabling Difficult Conversations series—hosted by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences—this event is presented during Global Week at UVA and celebrates the power of art to create understanding, belonging, and new ways of seeing.