„Experience of water flows“

Wir haben uns die Gegend angeschaut, Opole ist eine, ich weiß gar nicht wie viel Einwohner, kleinere Stadt in Schlesien, also es gibt auch durchaus Bezüge eben zur, jetzt also unserer europäischen Geschichte und die Ausflüge bestanden tatsächlich darin, sich die Gegend anzuschauen, da ging es viel auch um Elektrizität, die dort umgesetzt wird und sehr viele Baggerseen und das war tatsächlich auch damals schon eigentlich, also die beste Residency, auf der ich bisher war und die auch und das zeigt auch so ein bisschen, dass es vor allem auch eben noch im Gegend ein bisschen so Natalias Haltung, dass Kunst einfach sehr viel auch mit der Umgebung zu tun hat, Kunst in Kollektiven stattfindet und Kunst auch mit sehr viel Spaß verbunden ist und mit dem in der Natur sein und draußen sein und Erfahrung machen.

Sie ist mittlerweile nicht mehr dort angestellt, sondern unterrichtet viel in Breslau an der Universität und ist heute Abend, aber auch schon länger, also sie hat auch Kunst studiert tatsächlich und ist Künstlerin und wird heute Abend über ihre künstlerische Praxis reden. Schön, dass du da bist und ich bin sehr neugierig, was du uns zeigst.

I'm not sure if it's going to work.

Yeah, I will just try to adapt to that, but maybe, or maybe it's better if I just hold it.

Is it better? Okay, thank you, Lisa, and thank you, Norina, for inviting me, and thanks to you for coming and listening to my presentation.

I tried to understand what Lisa said, but my German is not really well. Well, I used that language some years ago, and I already forget almost everything, so I will speak English if you allow me.

Yeah, I was invited here just to show my practice, and when preparing this presentation, I just realized it's pretty hard to discuss my works or projects because they are more like practice or routine that I'm taking. So I will just tell you how it all starts, why I am in water and why I am connected to water. And just one thing, please forgive me, I will speak very slowly because I'm not in really well shape, so I will try to survive this presentation and talk. I hope you will survive it too.

But in case you have questions, like, I mean, quick questions regarding what I am presenting, just feel free to ask them during the presentation. And right now I am too hot. Sorry.

Yeah, so we are already performing.

Yeah, and what I am doing is very simple, maybe even boring. It's just being in the water. I call it aquatic performances, but it's not artistic swimming or synchronized swimming, because that's what people ask usually when I tell them I am a water performer. And how did it start? Well, it started in more or less 2018 when I got really obsessed about swimming, and I was just swimming in a local body of water in Opole, which is called Bolko Lake.

And this is basically a lake that was created artificially. It is located in a former limestone quarry, which was flooded by the Oder, the river, in 1997. And for some years was just abandoned. And after 2004, I guess, they just organized space for people to swim. And it's a very beautiful body of water. Because it was so hot, I'd just plunge in the water every day on my way to work or after work. I spent so much time in the water.

And then I started to think, what is actually going on? What is this place? I started to be more conscious, or maybe I started to observe my practice. So I just took images every time I went there. Very bad photos, but just to have some kind of proof that it happened, that I've been there.

And this is a very simple manifesto. I really like to refer to words of Astrida Neimanis. She's one of the leading forces in so-called hydrofeminism. And she wrote really crucial text, which is called Becoming a Body of Water, she actually argues that we are all bodies of water, kind of containers that contain the ancient sea in our bodies. Because actually, life started in the water, and we, if we would like to see it in more geological, from geological perspective, like we all, as living beings, came out of the water.

So our bodies became to be some kind of containers that took this part of so-called hyperseas with them. I mean, we include this water, this primordial water. So there is this statement which is saying we have all arisen out of the same primordial soup. And these are my, I would say, heroines. So whatever I do, I say, I just do things after water ape. I'm not sure if you are aware of this alternative theory of I forgot the word. That basically the theory says that there must have been a water episode in our ape ancestors.

And that's a very beautiful book written by Elaine Morgan, which I highly recommend you to read. But also all the mermaids and water creatures, even mythological, are usually my inspirations. Here I just made a comparison to Aphrodite, and I think I'm very similar to her.

But also Lynne Cox is one of my very favorite heroines. She is an open water swimmer. She's swimming usually in very cold water, and she's known for crossing the Bering Strait during the Cold War in order to show that, you know, those two nations who were in tension at that time, I mean, Russia and U.S. are actually really close together, and you can just swim from one island to the other and cross the borders that were closed for so long, and she also published a lot of books which are really, really beautiful.

I also recommend them. So these are just samples of how my practice started, because I started to swim in the summer, and that was a very, very hot summer, so to me it was just natural to plunge in the water and cool down.

So from summer, from May to January, I was every day in there, and it was just so simple. I was actually thinking whether I should do more records or do something about it, but then I just did like this situation that there's nothing left, or I don't have to do anything. I don't have to produce a product in form of an artwork. And that was also a bit challenging, because when it's cold, then of course one cannot swim as far, or you have to be really careful about how long you stay in the water, because you may suffer from hypothermia or things like that.

So it's good to control time and to control the distance, because if something happens far from the shore, then nobody will ever come and rescue. So I started swimming with swimming app, just to understand what are my abilities, how far I can go, and how long can I stay. So here you can see there's the lake. That's the map of lake. And these are just examples of the routes I took. This is a very basic one going from here to there, which is 500 meters. So altogether it's just one kilometer, but then you can go here and here and there and there.

And it makes fun. So I just started to make drawings that are invisible or ephemeral that disappear, which I later called a water footprint, which may also refer to this idea of understanding how much water we use for production or according to any other sources that we use for production. But in this case, it is about water. So I was just using water, but also tried not to leave any physical print in that place.

Yeah, and these are just drawings. Some of them are very tiny. So they probably happen in December or in winter when you struggle just to stay for like eight minutes in the water and you're circling around and then you realize it's, you created the shape of a fish or something. You're not even aware of that. I just found it very funny or maybe joyful. But that time when I was just spending my time in the water and suffering from the heat, I was really thinking about those cooler places in the world and also kind of naturally the shape of Greenland emerged in my mind when I was swimming.

And it's just like a constant exchange of liquids that happen on the earth. And also because it was so hot, I started to think that what is happening in there, I mean, in Arctica or in Antarctica, which are actually like the biggest reservoirs for fresh water for the earth. So you can see the Greenland as an island, but also as a water tank, as a reservoir for fresh water for so many living beings in the earth.

And then you realize it's melting and it's melting really rapidly. Like official data says that the melting of Greenland's ice cap is progressing at the rate of approximately 200 cubic kilometers per year. But of course it's hard to understand what does it mean. So I started to calculate how can I translate it to more like something that is closer to our experience. It was not easy to me because I'm not good at mathematics. I had to ask for help, but in the end I ended up with this result that if you want to understand what it is, then you would have to take a glass of water and pour it into the sea 8 billion times.

That's the speed, 8 billions of glasses. I don't know if you can imagine this, but if we would just take one glass and pour it 8 billion times in the water, this is how much water just running, fresh water running away into the sea and changing the environment. And then also, I thought that because I started to observe the map of Greenland and I thought it's so, so beautiful with all this coastline that I just started to draw it and repeat it so many times that I just ended up doing a kind of blanket or, what is it called, not blanket, duvet filled with feather.

So that's actually an object because I thought maybe it's important to document it or to keep the shape of something that is just in the change and disappearing. So that was basically my idea. And then I also made a book with more or less 300 graphics of the Greenland, but the idea of the book is that when you go through it side by side, then the drawing disappears very slowly. So you can notice it when you turn the page, but when you turn like 300 pages, you see there is a difference.

And I guess it's just, I was working with that because all those theories or informations about climate change are circling around and we are receiving so many datas, but we can't really visualize it or we can't understand it. I mean, regular people like me who are not trained into understanding datas. So I just sometimes try to translate them to more accessible language or just to understand it by myself.

And they gave a comparison that goes like this, because they tried to prove it's endless. And they said, let us assume that all people living on our planet would like to eat the entire Antarctic ice one day. Then everyone from a baby to the decrepit old man would have to swallow a half a ton of ice in a second, 30 tons in a minute, 1,800 tons in an hour. And so without a break, without a moment's rest, they would have to eat this ice for 24 hours a day, a whole week, a whole month, and all year around.

And I got so obsessed about this image of people devouring ice that I couldn't stop to think of it. But then I asked myself, what kind of comparison is this, actually? Is it possible to eat ice? And how much can one eat? What about digestive system? Will I suffer from hypothermia? Or what will happen?

So I just prepared this few ice, water ice, and it wasn't much that I managed to fit in my stomach, but it was more about these considerations that at that time they thought it's like endless amount and that we cannot even understand how much ice we have. But right now we see it is all melting and changing ecosystem in the water as well. And people are more like thinking rather about their holidays and next ice creams instead of, I don't know, being a bit more concerned.

There isn't even a real waterfront where people could see and just stare into the Bosporus unless you are on the boat. So that was one thing, but of course we need to remember that Istanbul is surrounded by water. There's the Sea of Marmara and Black Sea. So I decided to go there. I was collaborating with an art association called Passagist and I asked them to help me. I was thinking of doing a participatory project where I asked people to show me their spots. But most of the people were just saying, what? Bosporus? It's so dirty. Why would anyone want to dip in this water? And they were so surprised with this idea.

But of course, I found some people who show me nice spots also in the Sea of Marmara. But the point was that at that time when I arrived, that was last year, they were really witnessing a terrible disaster of so-called sea saliva that occurred in the Sea of Marmara. So that was even more frightening. People were saying you shouldn't definitely go into the water. It's dangerous. It's killing. But on the other hand, I was thinking like, well, the fishes are still in there or the water creatures are still in there.

What about them? Because I thought only when you get into the water and people see humans in this slimy mucilage, then they get maybe more empathetic with what is happening because otherwise they just behave like they don't notice there is a tragedy going on in there because they don't dip their feet in the water, they don't go in the water. Of course, it's not that I'm saying that they were completely careless. Of course, there were a lot of scientists and services that were trying to do something about or at least understand what is happening, but generally people just felt disgust and turned their backs away.

Well, this particular graphic shows my first plunge in the Bosporus, but I would just show you short, maybe not the entire video, but I just wanted to show you how it really looked like.

Oh, we've lost the sound.

It's very weird.

So, that was the mucilage, and I just made some short videos, because in terms of liquid exchange, I thought this term of sea saliva is also very sensual. And I never thought that something so humid and liquid can slavering and produce saliva. And then it also led me to very sensual or even sexual associations.

And to actually see that the water body is very similar to even our own bodies. Well, I don't know. I think we have something wrong with the sound.

So shall I connect with Bluetooth again?

Okay. Well, this is just a short performance because maybe I will skip that one and go directly here.

And Nina was also, she's very into this narratives of ecological disasters. So, because I was swimming in the winter that happened in December, I just had to get to the water, as I do usually wherever I go. And we started to do some records and created some kind of movie when, it's a fantasy about the apocalypse and how one can survive, taking lessons from the others. I just wanted to show that film, maybe it's better just to see it instead of talking.

But we'll see if the sound is working properly.

And we'll see if the sound is working properly. I'm sorry, there's something really wrong. Is it the matter of being closer to Bluetooth?

We can't change it.

Well, so maybe we can return to that because there was some narrative that actually made the movie more interesting, I think. So I was actually continuing this practice of getting close to water wherever I go.

It's called Kondik.

Yeah, Kondik.

And you contagion me, her son. Thankful to come on your shores, a little, amidst mosquitoes, mud, and grass, sink. Knowing you hold air-pouring toxins, tell you, from the tar sands, they go.

December 24th. I am diving into the water for the first time after 34 days. A strong wind is blowing, as always here.

December 27th. Calm. Stillness. I am entering the water as if it was a lake. January 3rd. I'm making a quick leap into the dark, grey water, and I start swimming. For starters, I focus on how my blood vessels contract and squeeze my entire body. I am regulating my breathing, then counting up to 30 drops, up to 40, 50, 10 more, the other way.

January 6th. I can't take my eyes off the stones. I keep thinking I will find a special one amongst them, a one that war has not seen before. I choose a few and carry them around while walking, and then throwing them into the water and follow the stones myself.

I don't know the water temperature, but my hands are burning. But still, it is divine.

January 9th. The waves are rocking me back and forth, and it's hard to complete even ten breaths because I keep losing my bearings.

The water just does what it wants with me. I give up. I will not fight. I'm trying to swim, but my arms are so heavy that they are being pushed back and I have a hard time bringing them forward.

The sea is pulling me down.

The toxicity is always at its highest before it rains.

With any luck, it will clear out the transparency.

The dimming today is very high. It's one of the days where the lack of light is almost unbearable. But it is still a good day for an expedition.

Water is the ancient mirror.

It is the living energy out of which everything is made.

The true nature of water is that it is the great unifier of all life.

And that same glass of water will facilitate our movement, grow, thinking, loving, as it works its way down the esophagus, through the blood, the tissues, and the index finger, the clavicle and the left plantar fascia. It ensures that our being is always a becoming. An alchemist at once profoundly wondrous and entirely banal, water guides a body from young to old, from here to there, from potentiality to actuality, translation, transformation, plurality, proliferates.

Most of our bodies are composed of water, which upon physical death will return to the great cycle of the world's waters once again.

It has passed through and has been recycled by our atmosphere and all other life since the very beginning, and will continue to do this until the very end.

Even as we live, our fluids are only with us a short time before being traded anew and rejuvenated.

We find ourselves tangled in intricate choreographies of bodies and flows of all kinds. Not only human bodies, but also other animals, vegetable, geophysical, meteorological, and technological ones. Not only watery flows, but also flows of power, culture, politics, and economics.

The only place of wrath or tears looms from the horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me every day. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged the punishments is cruel. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.

So people could see me. It was actually interesting that people could experience like to perspective to see someone in the water, which was what was very unusual because people don't use this water for swimming. So they had this chance to see someone and maybe get encouraged. That was basically my aim to get into the water. But also, they could see what I see on their mobile phones or even communicate with me when I was swimming.

And at the end, I was just brought to the riverbank by firefighters. They helped me. It was very nice of them. And just recently, I started to... Because it turns out that right now the topic was also the drought this year. And because I was spending my time in Hudson Valley, New York, this summer, I just, I really wanted... The temperatures were just killing. And I really wanted to cool down in the water. But it wasn't very possible because, first of all, there weren't too many places to access the Hudson River.

And the tributaries or creeks around were already dry. So one couldn't actually swim in it. You could just simply float and connect in that way with a water.

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, the plan is that I will connect with the Rhine tomorrow at eight. So everyone is very welcome. Yeah, eight in the evening, yeah. So more or less this time, about this time. Maybe you have questions, or maybe you just want to have fun.

It's very different if you go to, you know, water that is 10 degree. And then when it's like seven or five or three, like at some point, every each degree makes the difference. And when it's like around seven, it's already freezing cold. It costs so much pain. So you just have to breathe very, very slowly and be very, very cool. So definitely not getting in panic or.

Yeah, that's a good point. Well, I mean, I don't know how it works here, but in Poland, especially during pandemic, it became so people just get mad about maybe not. I wouldn't say ice swimming, just dipping in the ice water. Also, because this guy who's called Iceman is resident in Poland, and he's encouraging so many people to expose themselves to cold, which is, I think, very, very dangerous. And if you don't train, if you're not aware of your abilities, you definitely shouldn't do that, because it's simply dangerous.

And then the other thing is when you swim. I don't know if anyone ever tried to swim in cold water, like below 10 degrees or... Yeah? Because I think the biggest problem is, it also relates to breath, but because the vessels contract and because the muscles are cold, then you use much more oxygen and you have problems with breathing. But also to me, the biggest problem are hands, like it's really unbearable pain, but just for a few minutes and then it goes away.

So, yeah.

But that's even more, because once you get in the cold water and your body is kind of frozen, then you don't feel what is happening, and when there's ice on the surface or around you, it's so easy to get scratched or get wandered or make some bruises, and you don't even feel that. You may really cut your skin, and you won't even realize that, so you need to be very, very careful.

But I don't know. I'm not a specialist or a hydrologist.

This is just like something that flows in my mind from what I was reading, but I can say it for granted.

But then they say also that the fresh water gives a stronger sensation of cold than the seawater. So on the other hand, it's a greater achievement.