H2O Interface

The Media Mediterranea 27 fes­ti­val, titled H2O Interface, pre­sents artis­tic wor­ks that ques­ti­on the role of water on pla­net Earth, its inter­fa­ces, and the inte­rac­ti­on of all enti­ti­es. The pro­ject exa­mi­nes the rela­ti­on­ships betwe­en water and diver­se gro­ups of living organisms—including humans, ani­mals, fun­gi, plants, viru­ses, and others—aiming to expand the voca­bu­lary of networ­ks of living orga­ni­sms and objec­ts in com­plex rela­ti­on­ships wit­hin the post-digi­tal para­digm. In this para­digm, tec­h­no­logy is interwo­ven with near­ly every aspect of the con­tem­po­rary wor­ld whi­le still main­ta­ining its con­nec­ti­on to natu­re. The pro­ject explo­res the inter­twi­ned fiel­ds of natu­ral pro­ce­sses, tec­h­no­logy, and soci­al inte­rac­ti­ons across a bro­ad spec­trum of inte­res­ts, inclu­ding biology, zoology, physics, che­mis­try, growth pro­ce­sses, network cul­tu­res, soni­fi­ca­ti­on and data visu­ali­za­ti­on, real-time data tran­sfer, and more.

Humans, com­po­sed of approxi­ma­tely 70% water, live on a pla­net whe­re 71% of the sur­fa­ce is cove­red by water. Freshwater acco­unts for only 2.75% of all water on Earth, with the majority—2.14%—stored in polar ice caps, whi­le 0.61% exis­ts as gro­un­dwa­ter. The rema­ining fre­shwa­ter is found in lakes, soil, the atmosp­he­re, and rivers. How do living beings—plants, ani­mals, and humans—as well as the inor­ga­nic wor­ld inte­ract with water in all its for­ms and aggre­ga­te states?

What are the inter­fa­ces thro­ugh which the ever-chan­ging for­ms of water com­mu­ni­ca­te with other mate­ri­al enti­ti­es? What rela­ti­on­ships and inter­fa­ces emer­ge thro­ugh human economies—such as fishing, piracy, smug­gling of goods and people, tourism—and, fur­t­her­mo­re, for the ener­gy needs of all other actors of the Anthropocene? How do human-made pro­duc­ts, water sup­ply infras­truc­tu­res, underwa­ter data tran­smi­ssi­on cables, fishing nets and traps, hydro­elec­tric plants, beac­hes, lig­h­t­ho­uses, and other arti­fac­ts impact the bro­ader Anthropocene?

Unlike many con­tem­po­rary artwor­ks in which metap­ho­ri­cal reflec­ti­on on a cho­sen the­me is the sole con­tent of the work, the selec­ted artis­tic pieces employ inno­va­ti­ve tec­h­no­lo­gi­cal met­hods of data pro­ce­ssing, some­ti­mes in real time, for­ming new aes­t­he­tic and cog­ni­ti­ve who­les. All par­ti­ci­pants of the Anthropocene are con­nec­ted thro­ugh sound—one of the rare mani­fes­ta­ti­ons of the mate­ri­al wor­ld that exis­ts per­pe­tu­al­ly in a physi­cal sen­se. Thus, par­ti­cu­lar atten­ti­on is given to sound in visu­al wor­ks, sound art, and aco­us­tic ecologies.

Commenting on the dis­tor­ted dic­ho­tomy betwe­en cul­tu­re and natu­re, Bruno Latour in 1989 urges that we—as humans—must ret­hink our per­s­pec­ti­ves to con­ce­ive a “Parliament of Things,” whe­re natu­ral and soci­al phe­no­me­na, along with the dis­co­ur­ses sur­ro­un­ding them, are not seen as sepa­ra­te objec­ts stu­di­ed by spe­ci­alis­ts but as hybrids made and exa­mi­ned thro­ugh public inte­rac­ti­on betwe­en thin­gs and con­cep­ts. Following Latour’s ide­as, we can ima­gi­ne the possi­bi­lity of con­cep­tu­ali­zing lar­ger networ­ks whe­re non-human actors tran­s­cend pre­de­fi­ned pro­por­ti­ons, appe­aring as ren­de­red enti­ti­es thro­ugh the act of obser­va­ti­on, wit­hin the very pro­ce­sses of which they are a part.

Darko Fritz

k: Darko Fritz

a: Leah Barclay, Karla Brunet, Nigel Helyer, Toni Meštrović, Dijana Protić, Robertina Šebjanić, Robertina Šebjanić & Entangled Others (Sofia Crespo, Feileacan McCormick)