Singing to water

Iulia Hurducas

 
Wooden fountain, Innerberg, Tenna-GPS: 46.742601, 9.333972

Singing to Water is an exercise in communication with the non-human world, with Water in this instance. It is a collective performance with the participation of the international community that was temporarily formed in Tenna during the Alps Art Academy 2022, between the 24th of August and the 4th of September. Singing to Water is action oriented, evoking Water’s movements, flows and changes in states. We sing to Water, for Water, and in Water a multi-lingual collection of songs, poems and thoughts on Water. Water is sensitive to sound and vibration and by immersing our hands / feet / bodies in Water we feel Water and Water feels us while we exchange sensations, heat, moisture particles and microorganisms. Participants are invited to sing a song or recite a poem or a thought on Water by the Water, getting into contact with Water.

The performance is dedicated to Water that connects us all, human and non-human and transcends all borders. With it, we recognise her as another being inhabiting our common world. Water lives. The water on the mountain is living Water through its biological composition that makes it a life form. Water is also venerated as a deity in ancient cultures and modern, non-European ones, recognising its life force and life giving force. We sing on the Rabiusa valley that flows into the Rhine. The Rhine connects Switzerland with Austria, Lichtenstein, and Germany, and France with Germany as it defines their state borders. It flows from the European Alps to arrive in the North Sea through the Netherlands and melt into the planetary ocean. Driven by the flow of water and oceanic currents, our songs, poems and thoughts can reach the shores of Ireland and India and the other land formations above the sea level. In a world divided by borders, Water connects as it flows through the lands, as it flows through the skies to pour down rain, as it flows through the Earth and through our bodies to transport nutrients.

Collective performance, spoken and sung word, 15 min.

Credits: sound recording: Clareese Hill, production support: Hanna Hölling, Vikram Arora, Anna-Rosja Havemann.

Bio
Iulia Hurducaș (b.1985 Romania) is an architect, an urbanist and a keen observer of nature. Through her practice and research she cultivates an interest into participatory practices engaged in landscape reclamation, transformation and preservation. Her PhD research “Urbanised Forested Landscape” (2022) at the Sheffield School of Architecture (UK) explores ways of looking at forested landscapes from a more than human perspective.