Fluid Ecologies

A gridded installation with river, flora and fauna exhibited as part of the Future of Life Elementals program, created by the fluid ecologies studio to visualise the storytelling of one of the largest European rivers, the Rhine River. Inspired by Astrida Neimanis’ text, “Hydrofeminism: Or, On Becoming a Body of Water”, the installation is about experiencing and relating our watery bodies with other bodies of water. The dynamic installation mirrors water’s fluidity, the ground installs a gridded geometric form to replicate the commodifying and human straightening of the River Rhine in the 1800s that reduced the river’s biodiversity, and environment. The fabric diptychs act as the centrepiece of the installation. The diptych is made using material mindfully harvested at the River Rhine applying natural dye techniques and soil chromatography. The installation visualises the pigment, polluted and fibrous matter part of the River Rhine and its anthropogenically accelerated cycles and interrupted metabolic fluxes.