Watery Relations Workshop

09 As a Dutch person, I feel that our relationship with water is very underappreciated, and I always mourn its absence during the increasingly hot summers when the river gets lower, the water smelly, and the fields dry and yellow. I always long for periods of rain after periods of warmth because even though the warmth is nice, it needs balance, even out. Its absence sometimes drives me to the point of anxiety.

10 01 I think there is a general trust in water. // 02 I was let down yesterday. // 03 scandal in Zwijnaarde 3M > Pfos // 04 Spring water gives me good memories. // 05 Water is a lovehate relationship, but more like a BFF. // 06 I LOVE WATER. Big compliments, good rate. // 07 I fear the future, especially with climate change (sea water). // 08 We don’t have enough water in Belgium.

11 Vojvodina, the autonomous province in northern Serbia, has been troubled with tap water for decades. Cities like Zrenjanin don’t have proper, clean tap water (e.g., the tap water is completely brown). A public tap in a public space in one city has also been unsafe for consumption for a long time—yet many people continue to drink from it. Some even believe in its healing power and claim that pregnant women should drink that nasty water.

12 I don’t know if water can be a friend when I so desperately need her, but she doesn’t need me. It’s kind of an overly skewed relationship.

13 When the tap water turns brown in Singapore, it is often caused by a dead body in the water tanks on the roof.

14 Sacred water lakes in Ethiopia are being appropriated through the church. // Drinking piss.

15 I never saw or felt this view of water as luxurious when I moved to Europe. Is it better to drink it still or sparkling? From these alps or those alps? I even heard about the water sommelier. He only interacts with high-class water. He looks down at the tap water. His tongue can taste all the subtle differences in the water that I can’t. But maybe this is because I’m bad at drinking water somehow. She always evokes my thoughts of that slippery fox.

16 So I am no stranger to you—you live—and you bring me something living-you, something my body to live with you. Regardless, when I can no longer hold you, I decide to let you go... But I find it unfair because I want to make you feel alive as much as you do me—I want to nourish you as much as you nourish me.

17 I didn’t grow up with any filter solution for our tap water at home. The quality was never an issue to discuss, but when I grew older, more privileged families started to bring filters to purify their drinking water. I always had this sense that the wealthy purify, and the taste of pipes, dirt, and what’s hot as part of the taste of the water, but I could not trust those filters. And they are seen to bring out different tastes—artificial, cleaning, and other toxic particles. I could never corporate with it. Choosing un-filtered tap water felt like a kind of resistance and a reminder of where I grew up, where the dirt is taking a crucial role with my identity.

18 Every Monday, from around 10 to around 5, there is no water in the apartment building where I live. I often forget to shower at that time. Other times there is water, but it is only cold. I think the problem might be because last Monday there was water all day. // I used to live with my friend who loves baths as much as I do. We even sometimes take a bath together. // Taking a bath is the best feeling there is. I love it so much that I would take it every day if I could, but I don’t have a bathtub at home. // While hiking in the mountains, we had to take a lot of water. The weather was hot, and I was nervous that we would run out. During the hike, we swam in the ice-cold lakes. I think that water was drinkable because it was so clear and fresh, but I didn’t try. A day later, we refilled our bottle at a natural source. In the evening, the water was running slowly; in the morning, it was faster.

19 3M → PFOS → TOXIC → replace ground → BAD Now/After → protection and mice perfect habitat → over pop → contaminated water // Drinking pee = cancer cleanse

Participants:

Aurélie de Mol

Elena Braida

Luc van Basten Batenburg

Lucien Schmidt-Berteau

Martijn Van de Wiele

Mayomi Basnayaka

Oscar van Leest

Pavle Mijuca

Robin Vandenbussche

Rosie Romero

Tal Stadler

Zhiyi Cao

Nina Blume Spring 2023

Typefaces: New Edge 6666 (Charlotte Rohde)

Keroïne Doux Extreme (Charlotte Rohde)

Sandberg Instituut (Gerrit Rietveld Academie)

Department: Studio for Immediate Spaces

Collected and archived on the occasion of Studio for Immediate Spaces (Sandberg Instituut) and Faculty of Architecture (KU Leuven) Workshop

“Why can’t we be friends” organized by María Mazzanti and Rosie Romero in Brussels on 12th of February 2023.