WRITTEN ON THE LANDSCAPE: MYSTERIES BEYOND CHACO CANYON

Center for Contemporary Arts, CCA, 1050 Old Pecos Trail

CCA has curated a Chacoan weekend filled with film screenings and panel conversations. All three of our films will screen at various times throughout the weekend and the following week. See full schedule below and visit CCA’s website to purchase tickets.

Friday, June 7

1:30pm Sun Dagger

5:00pm Written on the Landscape Immediately following the screening, Christopher Beaver, the film’s editor and co-writer, editor will engage in a Q&A with Paul Barnes, CCA’s Artistic Advisor, and the audience. (Due to a prior commitment Anna Sofaer will not be in attendance.)

5:45pm The Mystery of Chaco Canyon

Saturday, June 8

3:45pm Sun Dagger

A SPECIAL CELEBRATORY EVENT!

5:00pm Written on the Landscape screening in the Cinema theater [SOLD OUT]

Sunday, June 9

11:30am Written on the Landscape

1:30pm Sun Dagger

5:45pm The Mystery of Chaco Canyon

6:15pm Written on the Landscape

Sunday, June 9

CHACO’S STORY SPEAKS TO US TODAY
A chance to engage in follow-up panels & conversations with the film’s Chaco experts and Puebloan advisers.

Venue: the Exodus space at CCA, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe New Mexico. Click here to RSVP to panels. These are free events, seating will be first come, first seated.

Governor Craig Quanchello of Picuris Pueblo will welcome guests

10am -12pm How Vast the Chaco World: Seeing and Creating from Above

Chacoan architects and astronomers built 150 Great Houses, uniting a harsh desert landscape through cosmology and ceremony. Questions arise about the source of their leaders’ powerful influence and the lessons learned as Puebloan society shifted away from Chaco’s elite dominance. Adriel Hesiey and Richard Friedman, with expertise in aerial cinematography and archaeology, explore the wider Chaco world. Petuuche Gilbert offers insights into contemporary lessons from Chaco. Anna Sofaer and Rich Friedman discuss the monumental scale of geometric formations, showcasing the Chacoans’ conceptual prowess in creating these structures in precise squares and circles, and possibly the spiral form of Bonito. Elena Ortiz will provide cultural insights into the significance of spiral forms and geometric precision in Chacoan architecture.

1pm – 3pm Tropics to Desert: Power in the Land and ‘Roads’

The exploration of Chaco’s ties to Mesoamerica, led by archaeoastronomer Alonso Mendez, highlights parallels in astronomical alignments and ceremonial roads between the Maya Ceremonial Sites and Chaco. Chaco’s landscape, woven with roads connecting Great Houses to natural features and celestial directions, reflects a deeper symbolic significance. Archaeologist Robert Weiner offers new insights into Chaco roads, while Rich Friedman’s LiDAR discoveries unveil extensive road networks. Petuuche Gilbert shares his thoughts and insights of the ritual significance of the Chaco roads.

4 pm – 6 pm Chaco a Center of Dualities — Sun and Moon, Light and Dark: Learning from and Protecting Chaco

A conversation with Philip Tuwaletstiwa and Anna Sofaer – In Chaco Canyon, the unity of the sun and moon is expressed through complex interplays of shadow and light, while the alignments of roads, Great Houses, and kivas merge vertical and horizontal dimensions, joining the worlds above and below at the heart of the Chaco world. Drawing these dual features into a center place is resonant with Puebloan history of deeply valuing the center place. The Chacaons’ deliberate and meticulous closure of their structures and roads has preserved Chaco as a center of profound scientific knowledge and a sacred site of ancestral Puebloan cultures. Pat Sandoval will talk about the educational values of the Chaco legacy for teaching today. Brian Vallo will talk about the many efforts to preserve and protect Chaco and the lessons it provides for our world today.