eSeLSCHWARM feat. Rhinozera: The Taste of Water
eSeLSCHWARM Foto (Rhinozera): The Taste of Water (Akademie der bildenden Künste, 8.11.2022 - 5.3.2023)
The weekend begins on Tuesday, so I went out to a bar to taste some vodka, and ended up at the exhibition titled "The Taste of Water". Water may not be just as popular a drink as vodka but still is well-known in countries with access to the sea. Austria and Kazakhstan obviously don't count in, so it's no wonder I got interested in tasting the fancy beverage for free. Various water-based drinks were present all over the place, and I even found a swimming pool ladder leading from the gallery space straight to the hidden reservoir beneath, which I couldn't reach for some reason. The exhibition was conceived and implemented by a dozen of internationally renowned artists from all over the world. As I happened to overhear, most of the participants were affiliated with the Phd-in-Water program at the Academy of Fine Arts. A mere coincidence? I don't think so!
eSeLSCHWARM Foto (Rhinozera): The Taste of Water (Akademie der bildenden Künste, 8.11.2022 - 5.3.2023)
Trying to find out more I had another shot of water and approached one of the artists, Anca Benera. Her 3-channel video testified to the secret life of rare sea diamonds, as well as those who hunt them by surfing the ocean on specially equipped monstrous ships. According to Anca, the topic of the show was not the water per se, but the politics of it, which participants tried to express in the collectively composed subtitle: "Leaky vessels, flowing rituals and non-consensual collaborations."
eSeLSCHWARM Foto (Rhinozera): The Taste of Water (Akademie der bildenden Künste, 8.11.2022 - 5.3.2023)
Together with her friend Arnold Estefan, Anca also told me about the theory of water tasting — a field of knowledge called Hydrofeminism. As far as I could understand, it's a non-human emancipation theory founded by Hydra, a multi-headed serpentine from Ancient Greece. Despite the ancient origin, Hydrofeminism is now gaining momentum, keeping abreast with the melting of the world's glaciers. Considering every entity as a body of water, it can be a good materialist philosophy for the age of global warming. This also explains why the title of the show, despite its apparent neutrality and transparency, actually contains a vast multitude of individual tastes and subjective flavors.
If you are as curious as I am, the "Taste of Water" is open daily except Mondays all winter long until March 5th, 2023.
Text & photos: Rhinozera
eSeLSCHWARM Foto (Rhinozera): The Taste of Water (Akademie der bildenden Künste, 8.11.2022 - 5.3.2023)