On Water
From 10 October 2025
| English, German |
| Accessible for wheelchairs |
| Humboldt Lab, 1st floor |
What to expect
Water is life, but it can also destroy. The exhibition “On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin” will show current research projects of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) on the topic of water from October 10, 2025 in the Humboldt Labor. These will be flanked by artistic positions that deal with the element of water and vividly convey its versatility.
Water is ubiquitous – We drink it, bathe in it, experience it as rain, ice, or a river. And yet it remains contradictory, as it is both familiar and at the same time unpredictable. Sometimes there is too much of it, sometimes too little. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it’s lacking, sometimes it floods entire stretches of land.
As a result of climate change, growing cities, and global inequality, water has become a challenge. It cannot be controlled easily and raises questions about established practices. Water is not a passive object, but instead a dynamic element that demands new scientific perspectives and social negotiation. The On Water: WasserWissen in Berlin exhibition presents Berlin University Alliance (BUA) research projects that deal with water from a wide range of perspectives. They all aim to learn from its properties – such as its cycles, its adaptability, and its binding force – to find solutions for the future. The audio track provides deeper insights into the interplay between humans and water. In it, scientists explain why it makes sense to listen to water, as it knows more than we think.
The exhibition develops its argument along lifeworld motifs of encounters with water: in the sea, on the coast, in the city, in the river, in the bath and so on. On all these levels, the aim is to balance out too much and too little water. The exhibition uses exemplary research projects to bring science to life and make it tangible. Researchers from the Berlin University Alliance, for example, deal with puddles in the city, with vortices in rivers and street fountains in Berlin, with the melting of glaciers in the Alps, the bathtub as a therapeutic place or life on and in rivers. The voices of the scientists can be heard in the form of an audio track in which they talk about their fascination with their research on and with water. This makes it possible to experience the diversity and complexity of water knowledge in Berlin. But not just limited to there: the exhibition also presents selected research projects that deal with solutions to water scarcity in Egypt and Kurdistan, taking local knowledge into account. In addition, a legal initiative will be shown that deals with the question of how the Spree could be given rights. Across the many research projects, there are signs of a changeing understanding of science that takes the dynamics and inherent logic of water seriously and also recognizes the limits of knowledge. Science is beginning to adapt to water.
The Humboldt Lab is an experimental exhibition and event venue of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin at the Humboldt Forum, represented by the President of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Prof. Dr. Julia von Blumenthal. Head Heide Barrenechea Curation Dr. Anna-Lisa Dieter, Prof. Dr. Daniel Tyradellis (Senior Advisor) Curatorial Team
Bastian Herbst, Max Illner, Dr. Thomas Lilge, Karoline Winter Production Coordination Yunus Kleff Scenography Caspar Pichner Sophia Branz (Assistant) Exhibition Management Anja Walther
The exhibition “On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin“ is being realised in collaboration with the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). The Berlin University Alliance is a consortium of four institutions: the Freie Universität Berlin, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Technische Universität Berlin, and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Together they shape the knowledge and innovation space across disciplines and institutions, thereby strengthening the multidirectional exchange with politics, art, culture, and society.
