Wasserspiegel – Water Bodies

13. April 2024 - 23. February 2025
Opening Hours
Thursday: 3 p.m.-8 p.m.
Friday: 3 p.m.-8 p.m.
Saturday: noon-8 p.m.
Sunday: noon-8 p.m.

Save the Date

For free

all ages welcome

multilingual

Contributions by: Mamdouh Alshash, Meleko Al Silo, Mehmet Gürü Avcu, Bilge Emine Arslan, Emel Aydin, Susan Azizi, Resul Bafeyî, Şêrko Bêkes, Hesen Çalak, Songül Çelîk, Ceni e.V., Confluence of European Water Bodies, Frauenrat Dest Dan e.V., Irina Engelhardt, Dimastan Essa, Laili Donya Faizi, Şermin Güven, Delchad Heji, Dîlber Hêma, Bêrîvan Îbîn, Bişar İçli, Wansa Ismael, Lerzan Jandil, Ecological women’s village Jinwar, Rojava // Ökologisches Frauendorf Jinwar, Rojava, Elif Kaya, keziyên kesk – Ziwer Cheikho, Spree.Berlin Initiative – Jakob Kukula, Kurdisches Community Center Berlin, Mikhail Lylov, Hani Mojtahedy, Berivan Omar, Gulistan Öner, Outcha Collecitve, Kita Piya – Yekmal e.V., Platforma Jin a Ekolojiyê û Beşa Jineolojî Zanîngeha Rojava, Quasi Objects, Delil Souleiman, Städtepartnerschaft Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Dêrik e.V., Markus Stein – Cashmere Radio, Berivan Teper, Wassernetz Berlin – Christoph Wenzel, Abdulkerim Yaşar, Saliha Yaşar, Semiha Yıldız

WASSERSPIEGEL

Wasserspiegel (water surface level – mirror of water) is an invitation to reflect on our water story, to immerse ourselves in a dialogue with voices and sounds that live by the rivers, and with water creatures that lurk under waterfalls. Can you hear the river speak to you? Lay your body down on the riverbed, take time to trace its contours with your hands while embroidering. Look around you. Do you see traces of the receding water levels, the felled trees, the absent hyenas? Can you hear the rain songs, calling on showers that the fields await to bear their fruit? Do you know the mystical beings watching over the water, and over our bodies?

Asi River and the New Alphabet
Bilge Emine Arslan

WATER BODIES

Water Bodies are not only rivers, lakes, puddles, and seas comprised of countless drops. They are also people who care, and who labour tirelessly collecting rainwater, planting water, exchanging heirloom seeds, telling stories, singing and experimenting. Every day, people and initiatives on the banks of the Spree, the Euphrates, the Tigris, and many other rivers around the world are committed to preserving them, and their cultures, often facing state repression, denial of their past and present existences, extractivism, ecocide, and genocide.

The river veins of Mesopotamia based on satellite images.
Şermin Güven

Filmstill from Efsaneya Şahmaran
Bêrîvan Îbîn

Artifacts from the diplomatic suitcase of the Confluence of European Water Bodies network
Marvin Systermans

Wasserspiegel — Water Bodies

Working together on meandering paths towards awareness of, and care for water, WASSERSPIEGEL – WATER BODIES and its accompanying public programs reflect on the creative agency behind mythmaking – a potent tool of resilience and imagining futures. Immerse yourself in water stories. Take a deep breath as you emerge and consider how you, individually and collectively, can become a caring water body.

Workshop on rainwater harvesting for children with Bişar İçli in Diyarbakır.
Bişar İçli

Quasi Objects has designed an intergenerational space for listening, watching and exchanging ideas.
Quasi Objects

Our ever-evolving exhibitions respond to conversations with our growing web of partners and collaborators. We thank all people involved for their contributions, with a special acknowledgement to Şermin Güven for facilitating many of these connections.