HYDRONEXUS: PERFORMANCE TACTICS TO REIMAGINE WATER-HUMAN RELATIONS IN DIFFERENT SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXTS

HydroNexus is an artistic research that responds to the Anthropocene’s and neoliberal capitalist negative impact on the planetary water system, that leads to treating water and human bodies as properties and to the malfunctioning of water-human relations. Acknowledging the posthumanist discourse, especially Hydrofeminism, Hydrocene, and Blue Humanities,  and the need for different strategies in oppressive times, this research emphasizes that reimagining and developing alternative water-human connections through art is an urgent call.

HydroNexus as a term was coined during the project and means connecting to and through water. The research aims to understand the current water-human relations in different socio-political contexts and propose the alternative possibilities through performance strategies of movement and speculative writing and drawing. To explore this notion of HydroNexus, the research was designed to take place in multiple sites - HydroNexus was conducted in 21 sites, in 8 countries in Europe and Asia, with dance professionals and non-professionals. Through three research lines: participation, performance and education, the research explores different strategies for replacing the Anthropocene’s logic of separation with hydro-logic of interconnectedness and reciprocity.