Meandering
Design: Lana Jerichová
TBA21–Academy
Research
Programming
EN / ES
Inspired by how rivers bend and curve, connecting entire ecosystems, the artistic research program Meandering (2021–23) unfolds the cultural, historical, spiritual, and ecological trajectories of waterways to cultivate the vitality of water, from source to sea.
By developing critical-creative insight about the interconnectedness between land and coastal waters, freshwater, and the ocean system, the program forms a case-study in regenerative cultural practice in the Guadalquivir Valley, in Andalusia, Spain. The research develops a methodology for “thinking oceanically about more-than-Ocean,” and for supporting an ecological praxis that seeks to generate both inner transformation and the conditions of possibility for social change.
Meandering takes an experiential and experimental approach to foster renewed sensibilities for social and environmental justice. It commissions artists to engage local agents, schools, public administration, young persons, neighborhood associations, spiritual communities, designers, policy makers, and activist platforms connected to environmental struggles in the region, to formulate a practical and poetic toolset for understanding our interdependence with the watershed.
The program’s course through the Guadalquivir traces river systems through the sierras and forests in the south of Spain, to the heartlands of the Americas and the undersurface of the Mediterranean, in a complex cartography of cultural, ecological, and spiritual exchange. For this journey, pop polymath Lafawndah (b.1984, France); philosophy-trained choreographer Isabel Lewis (b. 1981, Dominican Republic); and visionary artist Eduardo Navarro (b. 1979, Argentina) are invited to develop new participatory and community-oriented research fellowships to be presented alongside site-specific performances, river-walks, poetry, music, meditation, and communal meals. These activities take form through annual convenings, as well as in a digital platform on Ocean-Archive.org, and in a publication forthcoming in 2024. Art direction and documentation by photographer Lourdes Cabrera (b. 1979, Spain) as well as olfactory R&D by artist Chaveli Sifre (b. 1987, Puerto Rico) further the possibilities of situated approaches to commissioning artwork that can be accessed widely and in the benefit of local communities.
Meandering continues TBA21’s commitment to building the capacities and resources for expanded notions of Ocean stewardship and climate responsibility. Through attending to place-based knowledge, both new and ancestral, the program contributes to contemporary debates on justice in river governance and literacy on the transformation of freshwater ecosystems, as well as to the growing field of interfaith and interdisciplinary environmental studies, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Inspired by how rivers bend and curve, connecting entire ecosystems, the artistic research program Meandering (2021–23) unfolds the cultural, historical, spiritual, and ecological trajectories of waterways to cultivate the vitality of water, from source to sea.
By developing critical-creative insight about the interconnectedness between land and coastal waters, freshwater, and the ocean system, the program forms a case-study in regenerative cultural practice in the Guadalquivir Valley, in Andalusia, Spain. The research develops a methodology for “thinking oceanically about more-than-Ocean,” and for supporting an ecological praxis that seeks to generate both inner transformation and the conditions of possibility for social change.
Meandering takes an experiential and experimental approach to foster renewed sensibilities for social and environmental justice. It commissions artists to engage local agents, schools, public administration, young persons, neighborhood associations, spiritual communities, designers, policy makers, and activist platforms connected to environmental struggles in the region, to formulate a practical and poetic toolset for understanding our interdependence with the watershed.
The program’s course through the Guadalquivir traces river systems through the sierras and forests in the south of Spain, to the heartlands of the Americas and the undersurface of the Mediterranean, in a complex cartography of cultural, ecological, and spiritual exchange. For this journey, pop polymath Lafawndah (b.1984, France); philosophy-trained choreographer Isabel Lewis (b. 1981, Dominican Republic); and visionary artist Eduardo Navarro (b. 1979, Argentina) are invited to develop new participatory and community-oriented research fellowships to be presented alongside site-specific performances, river-walks, poetry, music, meditation, and communal meals. These activities take form through annual convenings, as well as in a digital platform on Ocean-Archive.org, and in a publication forthcoming in 2024. Art direction and documentation by photographer Lourdes Cabrera (b. 1979, Spain) as well as olfactory R&D by artist Chaveli Sifre (b. 1987, Puerto Rico) further the possibilities of situated approaches to commissioning artwork that can be accessed widely and in the benefit of local communities.
Meandering continues TBA21’s commitment to building the capacities and resources for expanded notions of Ocean stewardship and climate responsibility. Through attending to place-based knowledge, both new and ancestral, the program contributes to contemporary debates on justice in river governance and literacy on the transformation of freshwater ecosystems, as well as to the growing field of interfaith and interdisciplinary environmental studies, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.