In October 2023, I participated in the Hydromedia artist residency in Utrecht (The Netherlands), supported by HKU, Royal Academy of Arts (Antwerp), HfG Karlsruhe and the European Union’s Creative Europe programme. Read all about the project here.
As a result of the residency, its inspiring symposium and various interesting field trips during this working period, the four residency artists present new works in the Academie Galerie (AG) in the Utrecht city center.
You are hereby cordially invited for the opening on
Friday, February 16, from 17h.
The exhibition runs for two weeks until Sunday, March 3.
Hydromedia: Seeing with Water
Mariko Hori (JP/NL), Alexandra Crouwers (NL/BE), Meng-Chan Yu (TW/DE) , Sanne Vaassen (NL). HKU organizers: Taco Hidde Bakker & Sjoerd Knibbeler.
AG Ruimte voor Nieuwe Kunst en Media
Minrebroederstraat 16,
3512 GT Utrecht,
The Netherlands (open Maps)
Open: Wed-Sun, 13h – 18h.
ag.hku.nl
My new film Nereda 2: a Hydromancy (HD, colour/audio, 06’56”, 2024) premieres at the Hydromedia exhibition.
Nereda 2: a Hydromancy centers on the visualization of recorded audio during a residency visit to Utrecht’s waste water treatment plant. Using a range of (A.I.) filters, I encountered a speech hidden in the noise, albeit an unintelligible one. It was distilled, and manifested as a speculative entity.
Hydromancy is the supposed art of divination by water. The Diviners are not the Authors of the Utterings. (1)
“Psellus de damonibus sheweth how it is done:
that the deuills creepe in the bottome,
and send forth a still confused sound,
which cannot bee fully vnderstood,
that they may be held to say what euer come to passe,
and not to lye.”
A 16th century commentary by Juan Luis Vives on St. Augustinus’ “Concerning the Hydromancy Through Which Numa Was Befooled by Certain Images of Demons Seen in the Water.” (2) (3)
Hydromedia: Seeing With Water invites 12 artists via open calls to create experimental artistic methods based on co-authorship with nature to promote citizen engagement in ecological water management strategies. The project will run from Jan 2023 through Dec 2024, with three institutes each hosting four artists for a one-month residency. Hydromedia focuses on the crucial role that water plays in our lives and aims to address environmental challenges while highlighting its life-giving qualities. The project will culminate in a group exhibition at the Technische Sammlungen in Dresden (DE), accompanied by a publication.
