Articles & Columns
From Ecological Art to Dialogues on Transhumant Conservation: Our Participation in the 6th SOSOET Colloquium
Between August 3 and 5, Fundación Mar Adentro participated in the 6th Colloquium of the Chilean Society of Socioecology and Ethnoecology (SOSOET), held at the Sausalito Campus of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso. The gathering brought together more than...
When Nature Speaks to Those Who Listen: The Potential of Acoustic Monitoring at Bosque Pehuén
At Bosque Pehuén, autonomous recorders capture daily what the eye cannot reach or climate makes difficult to observe otherwise: songs of birds and amphibians shape the acoustic fingerprint of the forest and its landscape. A recent discovery of a tree...
Interview: Gathering visual narratives around nature
We spoke with Maya Errázuriz, Catalina Valdés, and Nélida Pohl, editors of Recolección. Artes en defensa de la naturaleza en Chile (Fundación Mar Adentro/Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad), about the four-year process that gave rise to this publication, which grew...
A Refuge for Collaborative Science: FMA Strengthens Research Network at First Scientific Meeting in Bosque Pehuén
In July, our foundation held the First Scientific Meeting at the Bosque Pehuén reserve, a natural laboratory of 870 hectares situated in the Palguín Alto mountain range in the Andean La Araucanía. More than a dozen researchers from disciplines including...
New book recognizes ecological art as a growing movement in Chile and highlights 68 projects developed throughout the country bringing together voices from the arts, sciences and environmentalism
On Thursday, July 30, at 6:30 p.m., at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), the book Recolección. Arts in Defense of Nature in Chile will be launched. The publication includes seven essays by various authors, 68 reviews of artists,...
Dead trees that shelter life: study tells how a mother güiña chose a dry oak to raise her cub
We revisited a study published in 2025 in the scientific journal Ecology and Evolution, which documents for the first time that a güiña (Leopardus guigna) raised her cub inside the cavity of a standing dead tree. Our conservation director, Tomás...
The Potato as a Hub of Socio-Ecological Relationships
Since early 2026, Fiorella Angelini and Ignacio Serrano, artists and members of the art and learning teams at FMA, have been leading a biomaterial research project—materials derived from biological processes or organisms—as an alternative for use in mediation and museography....
(Español) Cerámica, agroecología y otros ritmos: estudiantes del Programa de Apoyo Integral iniciaron un nuevo ciclo en Pirque
Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.Como primera jornada del año del Programa de Apoyo Integral (PAI) de nuestra fundación y la Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH), doce estudiantes de distintas carreras de esta casa de estudios visitaron Fundación Origen...
Open Call: Ecological Stories for Children (in Spanish) — A Contest Inspired by Water
Museo Taller and Fundación Mar Adentro invite you to participate in the first story contest written by teachers for children ages 4 to 10. Through this call, we seek to encourage the creation of quality literature for children that fosters...
A Screening Program Exploring Artist Expeditions as Speculative Imaginaries Arrives in Central and Southern Chile
The short film cycle Wilderness of a stateless mind comes to Sala K – Universidad Mayor (Marín 321, Santiago) on Wednesday, May 6 at 7:00 p.m. — by registration — and to the Museo de Historia Natural Río Seco (Juan Williams...
Inhabiting the Earth: Towards an Ethics of Coexistence in the Anthropocene
In this interview, we explore the importance of repairing the bond between human beings and nature in the Anthropocene, a concept that seeks to define our present moment through the impact of human activities on the Earth and its ecosystems....
We Were Awarded a Fondecyt Grant to Research Mountain Networks on Southern Volcanoes
The project explores how mountain birds connect with one another, and with their environment, across 10 volcanoes in La Araucanía and Los Ríos. Through the study of nests, flocks, and soundscapes, it seeks to reveal invisible networks that sustain life...
Socioecological Lessons Across the Pacific Border
Toward the end of last year, the Peruvian shores of Lobitos — a town located 60 kilometers south of Máncora — became a sensory classroom with the aim of expanding the role of educators in building socioecological awareness, through a...
Women who rebuild connections with nature and fight for its protection in different territories of Chile
From the Andean heights to the southern wetlands, five women share their experiences and knowledge about conservation and its multiple meanings. In their words emerge paths to reconnect with nature through activism, art, science, and ancestral knowledge. We spoke with...
From urban nature to local knowledge and fireflies: discover the selection of Active Teacher 2026
Educators play a key role in accompanying, fostering, and facilitating students’ connection with nature and their surroundings. For this reason, it is important to nourish teaching practices through spaces of care and the application of diverse strategies that draw from...
Ways to help after the wildfires in southern Chile: Donations, collection centers, and emergency numbers
In recent days, wildfires have occurred in Chile, primarily affecting the Ñuble and Biobío regions. Various strategies have been deployed to combat the fires, along with the declaration of alerts in neighboring regions. At Fundación Mar Adentro, we have worked...
Confluence as Practice: Intuitions for Inhabiting the Complexity of Nature
The guiding principle of confluence has become a compass for our work. Not only as a concept, but as a practice, it constitutes a way of approaching nature, diverse forms of knowledge, and the communities with whom we work. In...
Community-Led Marine Conservation
Protecting the ocean in Chile —and around the world— presents profound and complex challenges, related to the difficulty of seeing the interactions that occur beneath the surface, the multiple layers of biodiversity, the governance of coastal communities, and today’s socio-ecological...
Teachers as creators of meaning and transdisciplinary connections in their territories
The commitment to caring for nature is a transversal ethical mission that has guided our path. Conveying this message to new generations requires anchoring this perspective within education. In this sense, the role of teachers is key to addressing the...
Across Steppes, Rivers and Tides: Initiatives that Bring Together Local Knowledge and Community-Led Conservation
Seaweed gatherers in Aysén, highland muleteers in central Chile, Mapuche kimches and cooks who transmit ancestral food knowledge in La Araucanía, school communities engaging with the Patagonian steppe, environmental organizations protecting the Maipo River basin, and Aymara herders who keep...
(Español) Residencia artística exhibe procesos que replantean lo humano desde la naturaleza
Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.Para la naturaleza, ¿qué es lo humano? Es la pregunta que titula el reciente ciclo de Residencias Bosque Pehuén de Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA), que en esta oportunidad se realizó en colaboración con...
Discover the selected proposals for the residency cycle For Nature, What is the Human?
Following an open call that invited artists and researchers from diverse disciplines to rethink the human from the perspective of nature, three proposals were selected to be part of the new cycle of Residencias Bosque Pehuén by Fundación Mar Adentro...
A Pudú in Pehuén Forest: New Sighting of Chile’s Smallest Deer
For the first time, a pudú has been recorded by camera traps in Pehuén Forest. The appearance of this deer provides key scientific data for designing protective actions aligned with the National Pudú Conservation Plan (PNCP), developed by CONAF in...
Report: Looking Inside the Mountain: How Life Persists at High Altitudes
In the mountains and volcanoes of southern Chile, animals, plants, and other organisms develop survival strategies in response to cold, elevation, and marked seasonality. These biodiversity refuges today face threats associated with climate change, while artists and scientists explore new...
Machines that Orchestrate Relationships: Encounters Between Art, Technology and Nature
How can relationships between technology and nature be articulated through art? What connections emerge between atmospheric forces and the artist-observer? These are some of the topics we explored with Mauricio Lacrampette, an architect who has developed approaches he calls “medium...
Frequencies for Perceiving the World Through Art
Sounds from the end of the world, satellite listening antennas, and inaudible phenomena that affect ecosystems were some of the approaches explored by three artists from Chile, Argentina and India, who participated in the NAVE residency: BODIES-MACHINES-PUBLICS. We spoke with...
Open Call for Residency On Posthumanism from Nature’s Perspective
Applications are open until July 13 for the new cycle of Bosque Pehuén Residencies organized by Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA). This cycle poses the question: From nature’s perspective, what is human?, aiming to foster research-based explorations that open up new...
Many forests in one forest: ecological dynamics and climate change in the Andean Araucanía
Trees growing on fallen trunks, shade-tolerant species emerging in lowland areas, and the effects of snow on plant mortality. For a decade, researchers have observed changes in permanent vegetation plots—or forest sampling units—in the Bosque Pehuén Nature Reserve, being surprised...
Natural and Cultural Heritage as an Archive of Memory and Resistance
From urban botanical gardens to museums that serve as climate shelters, the following voices invite us to reflect on how the concept of heritage can be transformed into an ally in response to the socio-ecological crisis, and into a tool...
A Decade of Biocultural Research in Bosque Pehuén
Just over a decade ago, various research initiatives began taking place in Bosque Pehuén, a protected natural reserve managed by Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA), located in the Andean Araucanía. In addition to residency programs for artists and scientists, groups dedicated...
Exploring transdisciplinary languages in nature
In the face of today’s socio-ecological crisis, transdisciplinarity emerges as an ethical and heterogeneous tool to interweave diverse forms of knowledge from multiple voices. At FMA (Fundación Mar Adentro), this perspective manifests through research processes, creative experiences, and collaborative learning...
Insurgencies for Poetic Resilience
Last fall, industrial civil engineer and yoga instructor Daniela Cienfuegos took part in Fundación Mar Adentro’s “Docente Activo” program, where she facilitated and guided exercises designed to introduce radical rest practices alongside educators from the Araucanía region. Together with sociologist...
Dialogues for Coexistence: Towards a National Strategy for Sustainable Education
The objective of the working group, made up of 13 public and civil society institutions, coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is to create a National Strategy for Sustainable Development (ESD) through dialogue and networking. Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA)...
Docente Activo 2025: Call for Educators in La Araucanía to Participate in a Learning Experience in Nature
Promoting pedagogical initiatives that link art, science, and ecology to address socioecological challenges in different educational contexts—both formal and non-formal—is one of the objectives of the Docente Activo 2025: Art and Ecology in Education program by Fundación Mar Adentro (FMA). This year, the...
Sea, Transdiscipline, and Activism: Women Swimming in Open Waters
An ecotone is the transition between two ecosystems, a boundary that, once in the sea, can be experienced with all the senses. The salty taste mixes with the varying greens and blues on the horizon, the scent of seaweed blends...
2024: A year to reconnect with other possible natures
In 2024, we have fostered diverse sensorial interactions to reflect on the idea of “multiple natures”, delving into knowledge that can teach us more profoundly about the value of collective care. Crossing imageries, as a theme and direction of travel,...
Sounds of biodiversity from southern ecosystems
He has merged his scientific and artistic facets in dialogue with technology, movement and sound. After studying acoustic engineering [1]in Valdivia, he began a path of specialization in the spatial dimension of sound and the perception of timbre; he created...
Closing Milestone of Docente Activo 2024: Spaces of Care and Well-being to Foster Resilience in Educational Ecosystems
Creating a space for care, reflection, and knowledge to integrate art and ecology into education motivated this new edition of the Docente Activo 2024 program. The program invited nine pairs of educators from Villarrica, Curarrehue, and Pucón, La Araucanía, to...
Cacti allow the life of other species to persist
We spoke with Santiago Figueroa, promoter of the Cactus Lagarto greenhouse in the Valparaíso region, trained in landscaping and environmental engineering, who has studied, recorded and reproduced thousands of cactus specimens from seeds, with an emphasis on native species of...
Park rangers as protectors of the natural and cultural heritage in La Araucanía
From large ancient trees to small bushes that resist wind forces in the heights; volcanoes, lakes, glaciers, güiñas, mushrooms and pudúes. The biodiversity that makes up the more than 53 thousand hectares of the Villarrica National Park, in La Araucanía...
Platohedro: Artistic Experimentation and Free Learning as a Driving Force for Collaborative and Safe Environments
Since 2004, Platohedro has established itself as a creative and collaborative platform based in Medellín, dedicated to promoting artistic experimentation, content creation, and the exploration of free culture and alternative pedagogies. Free culture, alternative pedagogies, and open, participatory knowledge form...
Marine conservation seen from the collective work between scientific and local communities
Chile is an oceanographic power in Latin America, says British scientist Susannah Buchan, who together with the first female park ranger of the Atacama region, Marinella Maldonado, discuss the joint work they have carried out in the Chañaral de Aceituno...
The Value of Biodiversity in the Face of the Planetary Crisis: Insights from La Araucanía
There are multiple dimensions when addressing the biodiversity values that make up the La Araucanía Region. Throughout our country, from the coast to the Andes mountain range, wetlands, dunes, beaches, lakes, lagoons and estuaries emerge, forming habitats for multiple species....
Writers Advocate for Historical Injustices in Dialogue With Nature
An exploration of the voices of Latin American women writers who have immersed themselves in terror and healing rites with elements of nature. During the month of the book, we spoke with Dr. in Literature Carolina Navarrete, an associate researcher...
(Español) Arte de desastres: afectos, comunidad e historia
Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. Es común describir a Chile como país de desastres y a su población, como una comunidad que se levanta ante la adversidad. Sin embargo, para hablar de este tema, es necesario comprender...
Emerging into the ocean opens a door towards physical and mental well-being
[caption id="attachment_15607" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Crédito Rodrigo Farías[/caption] This month is the inauguration of the Ocean School Pichilemu, a collaborative initiative betweenFundación Rompientes andParley for the oceans that facilitates intergenerational educational events to learn about oceanic culture through talks, educational outings,...
A house-museum on an untamed island of Tierra del Fuego: a journey of art and science that began 20 years ago
Twenty years ago I visitedPuerto Yartou for the first time, an island area in Tierra del Fuego where a wooden sawmill operated between 1906 and 1947, a heritage site linked to my family history. Today, this place houses the Alberto...
A Historical Look at Botanical Gardens and Their Contribution as Spaces of Social Integration in the Present
When thinking of a botanical garden, some of the concepts that tend to come up are conservation and protection of various vegetable species. Perhaps due to these associations with conservation, the devastating fire that affected the National Botanical Garden of...
Sprouts Of Resilience After The Fires Of Altos De Cantillana
[caption id="attachment_15520" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sendero Loma de la Olivera[/caption] In December 2023, the Altos de Cantillana Natural Reserve suffered through a fire that destroyed almost 100 hectares. The coordinator of the protected area and president of Así Conserva Chile, Fernanda...
The body as a collective power to conserve wetlands
Is it possible to have a conversation with a wetland? This was one of the questions that came up when two researchers came together to think about the collaborative capacity of various actors when it comes to transforming socio-ecological systems;...