Water is a key element for life, but in some ways also a threat.

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Water has defined the human experience for millennia and is an important element in religions, rituals, stories, artistic and scientific contexts.

 

Water is thus at the core of what this project aims for: to create a common space for transcultural and transdisciplinary collaboration through explorative processes, exchange, and reflection.

By bringing together participants from South Africa, Brazil, and Switzerland at the intersection of art, science, and indigenous knowledge systems, we respect each other’s situatedness and diverse cultural perspectives with a focus on decolonial practices.

 

The Fluid Boundaries residencies aim to honor and critically examine and engage with the role that water plays in different disciplinary practices and beyond. By bringing together participants from the arts and sciences, and from different types of knowing and knowledge production, we hope to deepen ongoing examinations of questions on the ecological crisis, the separation of human and non-human life, the political and societal legacy and continuities of colonialism, as well as the aesthetic potentials of water – be it solid or fluid, abundant, scarce or absent.

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Just like the nature of water that is to be able to take all kinds of different forms - our commitment to transdisciplinary collaboration asks for receptiveness and willingness to change viewpoints and (rigid) approaches to enrich, shape and foster dialogue to allow transformative potentials.

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We are indigenous/ancient knowledge conveners, scientists, and curators from South Africa, Brazil and Switzerland. To complement our group, we have invited artists ready to engage and join the conversation with their expertise and perspective.

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Driven by curiosity, we are looking forward to engaging with each other in our group, with the human and the non-human, and to vivid discussions and ideas that will materialize through our collaborative work.

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