urban matters

Waiting for Water

Waiting for Water
_A humoristic take on climate change.

“Through utopian eyes the future looks brighter than we think. The water level is constantly rising, but we are prepared. Should we wait or change something?” (Sascha Henken & Stefanie Rittler)

Gazing into the distance, the ‘Waiting for Water’ object waits on the riverbank for its mission. The pink-coloured, romantic-touched object rests on empty water canisters and is ready to set sail at any time. Like a periscope, the house looms over and offers the visitor a view. Perhaps the metaphor is that we need to take a more far-sighted approach towards our environment? Due to global warming, sea levels are rapidly rising, and humans urgently need to take action. However, politicians, stakeholders, and shareholders are acting on a very small scale; one could say they are waiting until it is simply too late. Although mankind has proven its ability to adapt several times, it is time to find a more conscious approach to our ecosystem. Emergency solutions are not acceptable within this setting.

Waiting For Water was built on the UrbanCampsite in Amsterdam-East as part of the Science Park The Art of Tech-Living event in 2017. In its third edition UrbanCampsite has descended in the unknown but extraordinary Science Park, a new area in Amsterdam-East, where science, science research, ICT and biology are housed, this summer enriched with an exhibition and a futuristic mini-society.

The campsite was designed by Maike van Stiphout of DS Landscape Architects, with the entrance designed by students of the Academy of Architecture under the supervision of Michael Spaan. It functions both as a campsite and as an exhibition site for artworks. The campsite offers the opportunity to realise small-scale architecture that is architecturally but also artistically stimulating. In addition, the setting of the campsite offers a direct proximity to the object and to the topic it adresses.

The duo – Sascha Henken and Stefanie Ritter – teamed up for this project for the first time. Both studied at the Burg Giebichenstein Academy of Art, however focusing on different areas: Sascha Henken is a designer in public space and Stefanie Rittler a social designer. The project titled “Waiting for Water” is a product of Kollektiv Plus X, a Leipzig-based company that executes projects that strike a balance between artistic expression, spatial planning, design, and social work.

(This project was researched by Diana Polanski and Anna Kürzdörfer.)