Dialogues with Water: Art Practices Toward a New Ecology
Publication information:
Abstract
Artist Talk: "Dialogues with Water: Art Practices Toward a New Ecology" presents insights from two recent, interconnected exhibits I curated in Boston. Inspired by local water stories, these site-specific exhibits take a fresh transdisciplinary approach to explore the social and spiritual dimensions of water and offer an alternative new ecology. "Waterlines: Stories of Urban Ebb and Flow" traces the journey of a drowned local river that still churns below the museum that housed the exhibit, causing recurring floods in the area, while "Reservoir: What the Water Knows" responds to the unique history and architecture of the Waterworks Museum, formerly one of most powerful water station in America during the Gilded Age up to the 1930s. Ultimately, these projects prompt us to remain alive to the restless process of change that occurs in and around us and encourages us to deepen our awareness about the part we play in it.
Presenter Biography
Arlinda Shtuni is an Albanian-born, Boston-based curator/artist, who believes that real discoveries happen in the in-between spaces, otherwise known as the margins of disciplines. Her curatorial projects contemplate our connection with the living world through tuning our senses to our environment and creating a receptive state in which to consider our collective future.
Arlinda’s art interventions have been held across galleries, museums and cultural institutions including the Nave Annex Gallery, the French Cultural Center, the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum and others. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for Humanities, Mass Humanities, Mass Cultural Council, the Somerville Arts Council, the French Consulate in Boston and others.