June 7 - August 17
Opening: June 7, 6 - 9 pm (*drinks 8 pm) / KOMPASS, Dienerstrasse 33, Zurich
What might it mean to truly embrace the elemental conditions of life here on earth? For this summer’s ‘water’ exhibition, we explore one such approach in the visionary work of Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, presenting their 2017 film, Water Makes Us Wet: An Ecosexual Adventure (for the vitrine, as a trailer; screenings to follow). Navigating H2O’s pragmatics, prophetics, and sensual power, Sprinkle, Stephens, and their dog Butch hit the road in California, touring treatment plants and nature reserves; meeting with experts and aficionados; visiting pools, deserts, portals. Narrated from the earth’s perspective (voiced by Sandy Stone), theirs is a choral journey where personal touchpoints commingle fluidly with voices of urgency and insight (Donna Haraway, Penny Slinger), underscoring how water weaves through our lives as not just object or essence, but a consciousness of its own.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Since 2002, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens have been life partners and 50/50 collaborators on multimedia art projects that reimagine dominant perceptions of the natural world. Their Wedding to the Earth and Ecosex Manifesto launched the Ecosex Movement in 2008; more recently, they received a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship, and participated in Documenta 14 (Athens/Kassel, 2017) and Manifesta 14 (Prishtina, 2022). Sprinkle is a former sex worker with a PhD in human sexuality; Stephens holds a PhD in performance studies and is founding director of E.A.R.T.H. Lab at University of California at Santa Cruz.
ΚΟΜΠΑΣ / KOMPASS
Part of the ZHdK Department of Fine Arts, ΚΟΜΠΑΣ / Kompass (Elena Barba and Moselle Kleiner) is a curatorial initiative for approaching contemporary exhibition-making with a poetics of levity and rhythm. The Kompass programme at Dienerstrasse 33 includes five presentations focusing on ancient elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Metal, considered from diverse vantage points. The programme examines seasonal lifecycles and the essential interconnectedness of all things.
Film screening (EN): June 14, 8 pm / Kino Toni, Toni Campus
For any inquiries, please contact kompassspace@gmail.com / @kompassspace
Image Credits:
Screencap from Water Makes Us Wet, courtesy the artists; Graphic Design by Blaž Rojs