The tide is a tension between excess and lack, withdrawal and attack. Water is a vital element for the living but at the same time it can become a threat to life, forcing populations to escape. Historical wells, splendid fountains, urban riversides are rediscovered as a celebrated place for an engaging public space, but at the same time we waste and trample on this precious source of life. Like in a senseless war between nature and man, we bring a fragile system out of equilibrium. But don’t be too sure who will win the fight!
Jaykoe Arts: City Distortions 04’00 min
Richard Vjigen: Season and longterm groundwater levels 00’30 min
Albert Merino: Les Baigneurs 03’50 min
Jonas Brinker: Thames 03’02 min
Jaykoe Arts (UK): City Distortions | Video| 4’00 min | 2011
“City Distortions” forms part of an on-going investigation around power-hungry global cities and the changing environment. This piece explores the issue of city expansion, urban development and fears around a sustainable future: an uninhabitable city – a flooded metropolis – one that has to be navigated in new ways…
http://www.jaykoe.com/projects/citydistortions
Richard Vjigen (NL): Seasonal and Longterm Groundwater Levels | data visualization | 0’30 min | 2012
This creative data visualization uses the measurements of changes in groundwater levels, collected by the GRACE satellites during 10 years, it shows a map of the world through the eyes of GRACE, topography made of measurement data: the yearly cycle of groundwater depletion and replenishment, the rainy seasons in parts of the world suffering from droughts and steady decline in groundwater levels. These measurements allow us to see this natural “spectacle” on a global scale. The visualization shows on the one hand the beauty and overwhelming complexity of the natural cycle of wet and dry seasons, and on the other hand highlights the challenge of carefully managing our use of groundwater.
http://richardvijgen.nl/#timessquare
Albert Merino (SP): Les Baigneurs | Video HD | 3’50 min | 2010
A contemporary update of the “Bather” paintings by Cézanne, where the modern exploited environment replaces the idealization of a bucolic nature. This piece recreates different visions about the state of the earth, staging mainstream images of environmental documentaries in a domestic format, in the way that each corner of the street contains a part of the world.
http://albertmerino.com/web/?portfolio=les-baigneurs
Jonas Brinker (DE): Thames | HD video| 3’02 min | 2013
The movie „Thames“, performed in the centre of London around midnight, plays with the idea of trying to beat the tides. It can be understood as a performative gesture that is transforming the landscape, which is then brought back into its primary state of nature. While the human in fact is endangered by his destructive environmental interventions the nature stoically recovers from it.
Video preview ‘Thames’
