Agua. The Art and Cosmologies of Water

How does water shape the way that people and communities coexist? Comprising twenty works of art from Brazil, Colombia, and Chile, this exhibition presents water as the source of knowledge and spirituality. It also addresses current conflicts about the environment, resources, and participation in society.

Water as a living, spiritual, and political force: this exhibition shows how Indigenous and traditional communities in South America are connected to rivers, seas, and rain cycles

– and how traces of historical colonial violence, spiritual practices, technological interventions, and future scenarios are inscribed and overlap in these bodies of water.

Contemporary artworks invite us to rethink global ecological challenges from multiple perspectives – with water acting as a uniting and contested resource that will shape the future.

The exhibition has been co-created with artists, curators, Indigenous groups, and traditional communities, building on years of exhaustive research in various regions of Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.

Curatorial Team: Anne Bechstedt, Sandra Benites, Rodrigo Duarte, Stephanie Maiwald, Natalia Pavía, Walmeri Ribeiro, Andrea Scholz, Juliana Steiner, Gabriela Urrutia
Participating Artists: Gabriela Bandeira, Marcela Cavallini, Laura Ceballos, Ana Emerich, Mikko Gaestel, Xadalu Tupã Jekupé, Ana Clara Mattoso, Sebastián Melo, Rosario Montero, Sofia Mussolin, Jhanuby Loaiza Osorio, Keyla Palikur, Paula Salas, Alejandro Salcedo, Natália Tupi, Leonel Vásquez

A cooperation between the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, the Ethnologisches Museum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the Goethe-Instituts in Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, and São Paulo.