Listening to the Voice of Water

We digest, wash, cook, shower, spray and rinse water ‘away’. We enrich it with our nutrients or pollute it with pharmaceutical drug residues and other influences. But do we actually ever really think about water? How water keeps us alive? How water is the main sustainer and conductor of all life?! What water really is and her profound importance? Do we actually listen to her voice? To the source from which she originates, the ancient wise source she really is and which changes shape and consciousness endlessly? Do we thank her for the nourishing, medicinal and vital force that she is? In short, do we really know her, do we know who she is? Do we really see her, or do we just use her?

Contemplating this flow of questions, we go on an exploration. An exploration of a new water consciousness. Or actually a very old consciousness. An ancient wisdom that resides deep within us, but we have long 'forgotten'. Remembering this ancient water wisdom is what we have to do. In this exploration, different dimensions come along and are intertwined. By deeply listening to the voice of water, we get to know her (again). In essence, this is the basis for a new relationship with water. It is our intention to draw attention to water awareness in an accessible way. And to 'harvest' this knowledge so we can cultivate a new kind of conversation about and with water.

This exploration is in line with our ideas about how we create. This is no longer ‘form follows function’, as has been the adage for a long time in the era of industrial design, but ‘form follows awareness’. An important difference in understanding how something takes shape. Because only if there is awareness about the impact of your designs, true regenerative design can emerge.

If design is based on expanded awareness of the nature of (in this case) water and how water flows interactively, real system innovation can arise. Then we see that water is not scarce, but abundant. That water has the power to transform, to remember, to heal, to purify itself and give life endlessly...

Too often we take (tap)water for granted. But due to climate change and pollution, clean water is becoming less and less obvious. Together we must ensure that we care for water better now and in the future. With their groundbreaking way of looking at the world, designers can therefore make an important contribution to a change in the way we think about water.

Curious? Listen to this virtual explorative journey here, where we ask and discuss important questions like: “Water travels everywhere on Earth, collecting data of it’s surroundings, could water be the biggest databank on Earth?” https://soundcloud.com/user-865058583/compilatie-l...

"Be water my friend" ~ Bruce Lee

Curated by Anne van Strien, in collaboration with Kim Hemmes, for the Embassy of Water | Dutch Design Week 2020