Sarina Scheidegger
Becoming a Stream, 2021
Water is considered a carrier of memory and knowledge. It is not only a resource, but also as a connective essence inherent to human and non-human beings. Sarina Scheidegger’s Becoming A Stream is a collection of manifold photographs of water, taken from various perspectives and angles. The artist invites anyone to send her their pictures of water via e-mail or Instagram, to which she responds with a personalised and unique text. As the images and texts assemble over the period of a month, they eventually form a body of water themselves.
The collected images and texts explore water not only as a quantifiable and instrumentalised substance, but above all reflect how it serves as a lively collaborator in our ways of knowing, thinking and acting. Inspired by the writer Astrida Neimanis, who in her book Bodies of Waters explores the implications of a glass of water’s circulatory journey, Scheidegger’s texts reflect on water’s collaborative and interconnective aspects and the watery, spongy and fluid elements that surround us. For the typographic part of this project, the artist collaborated with graphic designer Kambiz Shafei, continuing their longstanding partnership.
Project start: 01.04.2021
Sarina Scheidegger is an artist, writer and editor, whose work very often takes form in collaborations, mainly in Basel, Switzerland. An important theme of her artistic research centres around the forms that working and thinking together can take, which she realises in various constellations and collaborations. In a project with Argentinian artist Jimena Croceri, the two created a series of performances dealing with water(politics), hydrofeminism and fluidity. Scheidegger holds a Master of Contemporary Art Practice (HKB Hochschule der Künste Bern) and has received numerous international grants and awards, including the 2018 FLORA residency in Bogota from Pro Helvetia’s Coincidencia programme. Her work has been shown at Istituto Svizzero, (Rome), Raven Raw Gallery, (London), Kunsthalle Basel, Crisper (Bogota), IPA Performance Festival (Istanbul), among others.
Year: 2021
Type: Instagram
Format: Photographs and text
Link to the Artwork: www.instagram.com/sarina_scheidegger/
Net Encounters was generously supported by the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia.