The group—including locally based and international artists, some affiliated with ZHdK and others working independently—comes together since 2024 to explore questions related to their shared interests in “water and time”. This open formulation of a common field of research encompasses various intersections: All participants have worked in their artistic practice on/with/about bodies of water and unaligned temporalities and bring diverse experiences with site-specificity, fieldwork, and more-than-human relationalities from their own approaches. But most importantly they are united by a desire to expand and complement their individual practices and a need to experiment with new forms of communal practices within a research framework: How can bodily and collective experiences with water strengthen awareness and perception of ecological interdependencies? At the heart of this process-oriented work lies the collective experience of a non-utilitarian relationship with water and time – beyond the concepts of resources and measurement.
Following the site-specific research and collective experiments conducted during the Rhone River Residencies in the first phase (Autumn 2024–Autumn 2025), the LS group developed a series of liquid practices with Limmat River, which were scheduled over two months in Spring 2026 as part of Urban Waters (an art festival organized under the #hallowasser initiative by the Canton of Zurich). In addition to the multifaceted effects and repercussions of these communal practices on individual artistic works, the group is now developing these liquid practices with Limmat further — from the riverbank towards the exhibition space (and vice versa). Invited by the Bagni Popolari, a cultural space of shared ancient thermal bathing sources, the group develops a site-specific investigation focusing on the salty and mineral interactions and reciprocities of thermal waters and (human) bodies. Based on the approach of building “water clocks”, the group works towards an exhibition format at the Altes Inhalatorium, centrally addressing the temporal dimension of doing-together involved in relationships, which is at the core of the liquid practices proposals. How do we deal with a world that is melting, flooding, and drying up? What transformative forces are engaged by the temporalities of thermal waterscapes, and how do these translate into our bodies and communities of care? Besides the participative practices and the installation of water clocks, a video work is in production which brings forward the collective process of researching and narrating.
LS is part of the IfCAR project "River Calls: synergies for future-oriented senses of respect, rhythms and relationalities", an artistic research project initiated by Laura von Niederhäusern.
Keywords: more-than-human relations, decentering, interdependencies, deceleration, deep time, robustness, spiritual ecology, attunement, hydrofeminism, speculative imagination
Schedule
Based on the developed common research practices within the three stays of phase I (2024-2026), the group focuses on collaboratively working towards the site-specific exhibition at Altes Inhalatorium, Bagni Popolari, Baden (Opening February 27th, 2027).
Kick-off research meeting: Deepening & Walking
August 24-31, 2026: Focus groups on selective research interests
September 2-6, 2026: Visit of research relevant locations (in Baden; at the Maloja Mountains triple watershed)
September 7-11, 2026: Video editing set-up meeting
Collaborative research & editing: Conception
November 3-6, 2026: Intense video editing workshop
November 9-30, 2026: Focus group research
December 7-9, 2026: Intense exhibition conception workshop
December 14-20, 2026: Focus group research
all November to end December: Video editing
Site-specific research & realization: Baden Exhibition
February 1-27, 2027: On-site research and production of the collective exhibition @ Altes Inhalatorium
February 27, 2027: Opening
Research group exhibition : 27.2.–22.5.2027, Altes Inhalatorium Baden (with different events and phases)
Group composition
The eight group members are active artists and artistic researchers initially engaged with individual practices around water and time related topics. All being part of this group exchange since fall 2024, through time and travels spent together with Rhone River and with Limmat River, they have created liquid practices – an outcome of communal resonance rather than individual input.
- 2 rivers: Rhône, Limmat
- 1 MFA almuna: Peiran Wang
- 2 DFA PhD candidates: Maëlle Cornut, Marit Mihklepp
- 2 ZHdK artistic researchers: Mayumi Arai, Nina Willimann
- 2 artists from Zurich: Esther Kempf, Claudia Kübler
- IfCAR project lead: Laura von Niederhäusern
Former members, visitors and continuous allies:
Zora Berweger, Costanza Giorgi, Andrea Keller, Birgitte Kirkhoff, Moselle Kleiner, Laura Felicitas Sabel