HYDROMEDIA is an artistic research program on innovative strategies for ecological water management. The participants are invited to develop lo-tech artistic tools to engage a large audience with the local problems of the climate crisis.

The project will run in April 2023 hosted by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (BE), in October 2023 by HKU in Utrecht (NL) and in April 2024 by HfG Karlsruhe (DE).

institutions

Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
Inge Henneman & Steven Humblet
in collaboration with Stormkop and Natuurpunt

Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, the Netherlands
Taco Hidde Bakker & Sjoerd Knibbeler
in collaboration with IVN Natuureducatie

Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe, Germany
Vanessa Bosch, Matthias Bruhn & Susanne Kriemann
in collaboration with NABU

Hydromedia mobilizes the arts to visualize the Green Deal (area 7) agenda in tangible ways so to promote transnational dissemination and audience engagement. The project is co-funded through the E.U.'s Creative Europe programme.

22/11/2024, Final Hydromedia Exhibition

Join us for the fourth and final exhibition showcasing all the Hydromedia artists together! Their works, developed during 2023 and 2024, reflect both individual research and a deep collaboration among the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Utrecht University of the Arts, and Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.

We are thrilled to partner with Technische Sammlung Dresden for this concluding event. Don’t miss the site-specific workshops and performance lectures happening throughout the exhibition! Additionally, a publication designed by Bruno Jacoby and Johanna Schäfer will accompany the show.

We look forward to seeing you at the opening!

Participating Artists:
Mirja Busch, Alexandra Crouwers, Tim Theo Deceuninck, Sascha Herrmann, Mariko Hori, Arja Hop & Peter Svenson, Jarek Lustych, Jiajia Qi, Alina Schmuch, Sanne Vaassen, Meng-Chan Yu, Luiz Zanotello
Curators: Vanessa Bosch, Taco Hidde Bakker

Exhibition Opening: Friday, November 22, 19:00
Public Program: Saturday, November 23 (details coming soon)

Location: Technische Sammlung Dresden
Junghansstraße 1-3, 01277 Dresden, Deutschland

19/07/2024, The workshops lead by the exhibiting artists will take place on Friday 19th of July between 9:30 and 18:00.
Please register online or via mail to hydromedia@hfg-karlsruhe.de

Alina Schmuch - Models of Maintenance
9:30-10:00, ZKM Foyer, max. 10 people

Based on her research on water infrastructures, Alina Schmuch invites you to a guided tour through the ZKM and HfG building complex. We will take a look behind the architecture on site and sharpen our views for the interconnected ways in which water passes through the building. This workshop initiates a dialogue around the maintenance of a museum/ a university and influences of increasing heat waves on its complex water circles.

Arja Hop & Peter Svenson - The Pinhole
10-11:30, darkroom HfG 2nd Floor, max. 12 people

Experience the art of low-tech analog photography using basic elements like sunlight, time, water, and natural spaces. In this hands-on workshop, we will create our own pinhole cameras from recycled household items such as shoeboxes or coffee cans. Unlike traditional cameras, pinhole cameras have no lenses. Instead, a tiny hole allows light rays to enter and project an inverted image onto a piece of black and white photo paper attached inside.
Participants will use overaged photo paper, which reacts slowly to light, ideal for capturing long-exposure images. The process includes painting the inside of the box or can, creating a small hole, and preparing a lightproof cover. In a darkroom, you'll load the photographic paper into your camera and then take it outside to capture images as silent witnesses to the scenes around you. The resulting negatives will be influenced by the movement and stillness in your chosen environment, with the size of the hole affecting both sharpness and exposure time.

Jiajia Qi – Living Water: An Imaginative Journey
11:30-12:30, meeting point Lorenzstrasse 15 HfG main entrance, collective walk to the Alb, max. 12 people

This workshop encourages deep reflection on water as a habitat and connection to our environment.
Join for an introspective workshop of thought experiments, visualization, and creative expression. Bring an object capable of containing water, or choose one from the selection. Together, we'll walk to the river Alb and fill our vessels with river water. Once there, we'll sit, observing the water and envisioning what it would be like to inhabit that aquatic environment. Participants will then capture their visions and ideas through writing and sketches using provided pens and paper. The workshop will conclude with the possibility of sharing these imagined aqueous habitat with the group.


Luiz Zanotello - How to free a river from its margins
13-15:00, river Alb, max. 12 people

In this workshop we will dive into the collective making of a poetic image of a body of water through language. Addressing the process by which bodies of water (Neimanis, 2017) are tamed by the word and concept of a river (Da Cunha, 2018), we will begin with a short performative introduction to the image of a river - as a word, as a concept, as a straightened frame, and an introduction to the dichotomy posed by the image of the Rhine by the German Romantic poet Adelheid von Stolterforth versus the technical rectification of the Rhine by the German engineer Johann Gottfried Tulla. In the workshop we will refract, reflect and compose together a concrete poem of our own ways of relating to and through the river beyond its margins.

Alina Schmuch - Amphibious Lines
17-18:00, Blauer Salon, HfG Cinema ground floor, max. 50 people

Screening of “Amphibious Lines,” a 37 minute 4K video essay by Alina Schmuch and Maria Ebbinghaus.
The film explores the landscapes, practices, and models produced by the ongoing attempt to defend human habitats from the sea.
Against the backdrop of a worsening climate crisis and rising sea levels, the documentary shows dikes, barrages, and computer-based climate models from the Netherlands and the lowlands of Bremen.
Wide camera shots of the gigantic structures are juxtaposed with scenes of synchronized swimmers, adding a physical dimension to people’s struggle against the water. The screening will be followed by a methodological dialogue, examining the artistic research on water infrastructures and processes behind the project. This workshop offers an opportunity to reflect on and discuss the intersection of climate consequences and strategies of filmmaking.

18/07/2024, The third local Hydromedia exhibition, featuring new works by Jiajia Qi, Alina Schmuch, Arja Hop & Peter Svenson and Luiz Zanotello, will open on Thursday 18 July at 7pm at Städtische Galerie in Karlsruhe at Lorenzstraße 27, 76135 Karlsruhe (Soft-Opening at 4pm).

It is part of the Ornamenta Lust program and of UNESCO Karlsruhe city of media arts.

The exhibition will be open on Wednesdays through Sundays, 11am – 6pm, until 8 September 2024.

03/04/2024, We will welcome you to our Open Salon & Kick-off event of the residency in Karlsruhe, with following program:

10:00 Introduction by Susanne Kriemann & Vanessa Bosch
viewing of works by Margarethe Raspé as she bathes in polluted water…

10:15 Esther Ruelfs / Mining Photography
11:00 Nico Goldscheider / Groundwater & Springs / Lecture
11:45 Christophe Gentil / Surface- and Wastewaters Management / Lecture & Dialogues
12:15 Julia Ihls / Introduction to Living Library

12:30 Lunch break

13.30 Vanessa Bosch / Hydrofeminism / Screening: wet together (2021 ‧ 23:51 min)
14:00 Helin Ulas / Water & Memories / Lecture Performance & Screening
14:30 Mareike Röder / Floodplain Forests / Lecture
15:15 Su Yu Hsin / Wet Mechanics of Seeing / Screening: Tidal Variations (2021 ‧ 14:40 min)

16.00 Coffee break

16:15 Thomas Frank / Drinking water & Microplastics / Lecture & Dialogues
16:50 Alexandra Navratil / Photographic Study / Screening: Silbersee (2015 ‧ 11 min)
17:30 Liquid Dialogues (open conversations)

18:00 Bar & Buffet by culinary artist Sarai Rose Duke


location: HfG Lichtbrücke, Lorenzstrasse 15, 76135 Karlsruhe
every body is welcome / wheelchair accessible / entry is free / no live streaming / relaxed event

17/02/2024, Within the framework of the Hydromedia exhibition at AG in Utrecht, four artists will host workshops in Utrecht on Saturday 17 Feb. 2024 in Utrecht in which they introduce their research and working methods. Meng-Chan Yu – 'Making Images Using Water and Soil' (10-12 AM); Alexandra Crouwers – 'Water in Reverse: How to Hydromance' (10:00–12:00 AM); Sanne Vaassen – 'Water Observations' (1:30–3:30 PM); and Mariko Hori – 'Archiving Things in Paper' (1:30–3:30 PM). The workshops by Yu and Hori will take place at Fotodok (Lange Nieuwstraat 7, Utrecht), the workshops by Crouwers and Vaassen will commence at AG (Minrebroederstraat 16, Utrecht).
The main aim of these workshops is to spread experimental and easy-to-use methods of seeing and working with water, so as to heighten awareness of our interdependency with non-human beings and natural forces.
More info and free registration at https://www.hku.nl/en/events/workshops-hydromedia

16/02/2024, The 'Utrecht University of the Arts' (HKU) and 'AG – Ruimte voor nieuwe kunst en media' are pleased to invite you to the opening of the second local Hydromedia exhibition. This exhibition collects the results of the second group of four artists-in-residence, who worked on site in the city and province of Utrecht (NL) in October 2023: Alexandra Crouwers, Mariko Hori, Sanne Vaassen, and Meng-Chan Yu. Opening at AG, Minrebroederstraat 16, 3512 GT Utrecht: Friday 16 February 2024, 5 PM. The exhibition runs through 3 March 2024. Opening hours: Wed–Sun, 1–6 PM. Free entrance. Disabled access.
https://ag.hku.nl/tentoonstelling/hydromedia-seeing-with-water/

05/10/2023, On Thursday 5 October the Utrecht University of the Arts (HKU) will host a public symposium highlighting philosophical, ecological, scientific and artistic perspectives on water. Speakers include philosopher René ten Bos, designer/curator Henriette Waal, artist Suzette Bousema, artist/filmmaker Ugo Petronin, geographer Els Otterman, and scientists Sven Teurlincx, Lisette de Senerpont Domis (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) and Annelies Veraart (Radboud University). All presentations will be held in English. Stadsschouwburg Utrecht (Hekmanfoyer), 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM. Address: Lucasbolwerk 24, Utrecht. Please register for the free symposium here: https://www.hku.nl/en/events/hydromedia-artist-in-residence

23/09/2023, Within the framework of the Hydromedia exhibition at Stormkop, Antwerp, three artists will give free workshops in which they introduce their working methods. Mirja Busch, Puddle Watching (10:30AM–12:00PM) Jarek Lustych, To See a Sound (11:00AM–1:00PM); Sascha Herrmann, The Camera as Testing Tool (1:00–4:00PM). The main aim of these workshops is to spread experimental and easy-to-use methods of looking at and working with water, so as to heighten awareness of our interdependency with non-human beings and natural forces. Participation is free, but please register following the link at the bottom left of the information sheet (see pdf below)

22/09/2023, The Royal Academy of Arts Antwerp and Stormkop are pleased to invite you to the opening of the first Hydromedia exhibition. This exhibition collects the results of the first four artists-in-residence, who worked on site in Antwerp near or in the Scheldt estuary in April 2023: Mirja Busch, Jarek Lustych, Sascha Herrmann, and Tim Theo Deceuninck. Opening at Stormkop, Droogdokkenweg 4, Antwerp: Friday 22 Sept. 2023, 6 PM. Exhibition runs through 7 Oct. 2023.
More info: https://www.ap-arts.be/en/node/4378

03/04/2023, 2-day public lecture and presentation programme at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and Stormkop. With Dries Segers, Boaz Levin, Arjen Mulder, Laure Winants, Ronny Blust and Dirk Pauwels, and a Stormkop Safari by Koos Hogeweg.