Further Texts
Towards a Sentimental Cartography of Water
A crisis commonly can be described as an event that destabilises existing structures and thus creates highly unstable situations for individuals, groups, a whole society or an entire system. Most of the time the situation of a crisis originates from a complex bundle of causes which leads to a persistent dysfunction of the system. If not solved immediately the dysfunction even affects other systems and such increases the risk of further crises. This general description also applies to the latest water crisis whose peak hit Cape Town in early 2018. Not only was ... read more

the development of this crisis influenced by political mismanagement, an improper usage of water ressources and the effects of the global climate change, but it also gave rise to heavy job losses in the industrial agriculture, an increasing limitation of sanitary standards as well as a modified way of water distribution which further intensified existing economical and social inequalities. Yet, on the other hand these destabilising events at the same time provoked a range of public measures and personal strategies which created an increased awareness of water and marked a first step towards a reorganised water usage. Once established to cope with the highly critical state of emergency these alterations now continue to shape the current social, economical and environmental realities. In this sense the crisis even can be understood as an initial point for progressive impacts that slowly produce a new form of normality. Against this background, the exhibition Towards a Sentimental Cartography of Water wants to explore the emergence and persistence of this new normal. But which attributes define and characterise such a labile situation of transition? How have the events modified the personal and public relation to water? And to what extent can the crisis even serve as a catalyst for change that transforms the negative implications into a positive outlook?

Madeleine Bazil // Lizette Chirrime // Das Numen // Denver Jansen // Io Makandal // Koleka Putuma // Nina Schuiki // Dennis Siering

Curated by Stefan Vicedom
Exhibition: 28. November – 14. December 2018

To further approach these various issues the exhibition associatively follows the concept of a sentimental cartography. While cartographies commonly impart orientation by objectively translating a spatial situation into visual symbols and structures, the subform of sentimental cartographies extends this concept by including immaterial and speculative phenomena as well as subjective perspectives.¹ Thus, the mapping of phenomena in a sentimental cartography allows to playfully combine scientific principles with emotional states, to enhance the factual reality with imaginary elements, and to initiate an open dialogue between an objective and subjective understanding of the world. In this particular sense the artworks that are arranged in the exhibition provide some first coordinates for an yet unwritten cartography that describes our far-reaching connectedness with water.

According to this idea, the photographic images by Madeleine Bazil address the role of water production as an essential issue by documenting the construction of a desalination plant in Cape Town's V&A area. The images are part of her series WATER[LESS] which she shot during the peak of the water crisis in March 2018. At this point the city had commissioned several desalination plants in response to the ongoing water shortage. Bazil's documentation mainly focuses on the abstract nature of the technical constructions which remind the viewer that the resources of water nowadays are part of a complex and ungraspable economic system. But the underlying character of her images as well subtly captures the uncertain atmosphere which resulted from the – by this point – imminent scenario of Day Zero.

In contrast to Bazil's photographic images that deal with a water related context but only rarely show the substance itself, the work of Denver Jansen clearly follows an aesthetic exploration of the various manifestations and attributes of water. In the case of the pictures Desert Flower (2018) and Wave (2018) he artistically interprets two of its most archetypal features. While the work Desert Flower uses the motif of a farm scenery to metaphorically outline water as a life-giving but yet precious and limited ressource, in his piece Wave the artist emphasises the character of water as a powerful and only hardly controllable natural element. Interestingly, both pieces at the same time playfully reflect the aesthetic qualities of water in their own materiality since Jansen chose watercolours as their particular medium.

Io Makandal's mixed media work No Rain, No Flowers (2016-2018) consists of a drawing and a number of found vases that are arranged on a floating shelf. With its combination of abstract and figurative elements as well as textual additions and numbers the drawing resembles the visual character of a cosmologically inspired map. Its examination of water as an essential part of the natural life cycle especially gets outlined by a short text note in the centre of the drawing which formulates the simple yet far reaching observation that without rain there will be no flowers. This thought is further highlighted by the empty vases on the shelf which apparently indicate the absence of any plant life and water. In this sense Makandal's work becomes a poetic metaphor about the role of water in our natural and private environment as well as the effects its disappearance has on any human and non-human life form.

The work No Maps for These Territories (2018) by Dennis Siering is composed of several foursquare, modular elements whose landscape-like shapings result from casts of a reef. The elements thus replicate a specific geologic zone in which the spheres of land and sea meet. In sharp contrast to this organic aesthetic, the sculpture also includes slender aluminium tubes which connect the single elements in the form of an unknown technical circuit. Owing to this fusion of the organic with the anorganic Siering's work clearly raises a number of crucial questions. What kind of interaction could the aluminium tubes imply? Is it possible to transform the spheres of nature and technology into one symbiotic system? And can the geologic zone of a reef with its particular characteristics serve as a future model for the creation of new and more sustainable connections with the ressource of water?

In her installation Beer Is The New Water (2018) Lizette Chirrime arranged several cushions and plastic ribbons that connect the roof beams with the floor. While this composition clearly evokes associations of clouds, rainfall and a water pond, the work also includes a stainless steel tap and numerous beer bottles. Along with the title of the installation these elements refer to some particular events that recently occured at the Newlands spring in Cape Town. During the latest drought this spring – which is fed by clear water from the mountains and has been an important public water point for more than 100 years – was closed due to political decisions and claims of local breweries. Not only led this incident to the restriction of a place that generations of people visited for its social, natural and spiritual character but it also exemplifies the ongoing conflict between public and corporate control forms of natural water ressources.

For her piece I still see you in everything (2018) artist Nina Schuiki covered a human tear between two thin glass plates which she subsequently sealed air-tight. Placed in a slide-projector, this glass object works like a diapositive and the human tear eventually appears as a detailed image on the wall. Yet, in the further process its initial consistent form more and more transforms into changing abstract shapes since the fluid starts to condense owing to the high temperature of the projection light. Schuiki's processual image thus becomes a poetical contemplation on the aesthetic of aggregation states and fluidity. At the same moment, the origin of the substance also subtly brings to mind that water is an essential part of every living body as well as an important medium of human emotions.

The poem Water by Koleka Putuma was first published in her book Collective Amnesia in April 2016. Its narrative mainly focuses on the symbolism of water and its various relations to blackness and religion. By following these links the poem emphasises water as an important component in the traditions of black spirituality but also marks it as an element which was used to invade and colonise Africa. Thus, it impressively reflects the decisive and diverse role of water in the construction of collective and individual identities as well as the effects the historical implications have on current African societies. In summer 2016 Putuma collaborated with Ecuadorian filmmaker Josè Cardoso to translate the piece into the medium of video. Through contemplative and lucid sequences it accentuates and further outlines central aspects of the poem's implied subjects on an acoustic and visual level.

In 2011 the artist collective Das Numen realised the installation Das Numen H2O at the HKW in Berlin. This installation can be understood as the protoype of a modular water treatment system that produces drinking water exclusively on the basis of biological processes. Its principles thus might have a role to play in the finding of future and alternative ways of water supply. For the exhibition Towards a Sentimental Cartography of Water the artist collective has selected several documentary materials and studies that provide extensive insights into the project. The presentation further gets extended with a transparent hose that is connected to the local water system and which runs through the main exhibition space. Not only does this element indicate a direct link between Cape Town's particular water situation and the possible solutions the artists have developed in their installation but – by establishing a spatial relation with the other artworks – it also outlines the deeply connective and global character of water.

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One of the premier examples of a sentimental cartography is the Map of Love (1654) in which French philosopher Madeleine de Scudéry illustrated the landscape of human emotion. In 1726 Jonathan Swift further developed the method to describe the imaginery countries in his famous novel Gulliver's Travels. During the 20th century the idea of a sentimental cartography also was picked up by artists of the Situationist International who often translated physical movements into an emotional journey. Nowadays sentimental cartographies are widely used in popular culture to outline the individual experience of places and life phases as well as to subjectively map complex phenomena like the internet, sexuality or the climate change.

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