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Contested Waters

A Nordic-Caucasian Network for Riverine Ecologies

In development 01.2025 –

Black-and-white photograph of a dry river bed with four car tyres packed full of stones.

A transnational network for artistic research and education, interrogating how modernist legacies instrumentalise rivers and public imaginaries. Its pilot phase bridges Nordic-Caucasian perspectives, placing Sweden’s post-industrial landscapes in dialogue with Georgia’s urgent struggles against extractivism.

The roots of the initiative lie in Two Rivers, Three Geographies, research conducted by Giga Tsikarishvili at HDK-Valand in 2023, which established a comparative framework between the Mtkvari (GE) and Göta Älv (SE) rivers. The research evolved through a residency and public presentation with Artist in Coexistence in Orust, Sweden.

Our methodology centres on attunement, seeking bodily proximity to the water to imagine alternative, non-extractive ways of coexistence. To navigate the river’s damaged networks, we practice “following humble agents”—tracing the quiet movements and interactions of birds, plants, and water currents to locate survival islands—liminal spaces to reconnect with the traumatised rivers. Through collaborative storytelling, we aim to recall forgotten intimacies with the more-than-human world and translate these connections into site-specific design interventions. We envision these interventions not as functional, problem-solving structures, but as subtle spatial and meditative anchors. Ultimately, we aim to disrupt utilitarian habits of the everyday and give the rivers a stronger voice and presence.

Field

Archival Research · Architecture · Art · Participatory Design

Collaborators

DESIGN+POSTHUMANISM NETWORK, Confluence of European Water Bodies

Activations

The chapters of this enquiry, in the order they happened.

  1. Intervention

    Harvester of Floating Data

    River Mtkvari, Ortachala, Tbilisi, Georgia · River Göta älv, Frihamnen, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Two oscillating objects on the rivers Mtkvari and Göta älv, exploring alternative observations of an area shaped by geological change in deep time as well as by cultural and political modification.

    A cage welded from reinforcing bar holding a single large boulder in a stony river bed, with torn plastic and dead leaves caught along one side.

  2. Residency

    Floating Threshold

    Artist in Coexistence · Åsen, Orust, Sweden

    A residency on the Swedish island of Orust following small bodies of water, glacial grooves and human traces, resulting in an architectural object proposed as an instrument for connecting with diverse bodies of water.

    A collage on white: a tall conical structure of thin timber staves standing on a black pool of ink, set against a photograph of a dark forest pond.

  3. Network

    Confluence of European Water Bodies

    The river Mtkvari, sole water body from Georgia among 58 across the Confluence of European Water Bodies, entering a network spanning 18 countries built to rethink political representation for water itself.

    A raft of cormorants gathered close together on rippled grey-green water at dusk, seen through the bare branches of a tree in the foreground.

Texts