CASCAIS .- The first edition of the Water Biennial – Traces of Water opened on 17 July and can be visited until 6 September at various venues across Cascais. At the Estoril Congress Centre, Demetrio Paparoni’s selection brings together more than ninety international artists in a project that proposes a new way of addressing the major challenges related to water through contemporary creation. Internationally curated by Demetrio Paparoni and directed by Consuelo Císcar, the Biennial turns Cascais into a meeting place for art, research, universities and institutions.
Participating artists include Marina Abramović, Yoko Ono, William Kentridge, Joana Vasconcelos, Robert Longo, Thomas Ruff, Roni Horn, Zhang Huan, and the Spanish artists Isabel Muñoz, José Cosme and Miquel Navarro, making the Biennial one of the most significant international events devoted to the dialogue between art, sustainability and water culture.
Beyond its exhibition dimension, the Biennial incorporates an international research programme promoted by the Chair of Art and Technology at the Catholic University of Valencia, bringing together artists, researchers, scientists and universities to explore the potential of art as a tool for generating knowledge. The programme is structured around the H₂O Forum, which hosted reflections on Riccardo Petrella’s Water Manifesto, published in 1998, and the International Congress “Hybrid Humanities: Water and Humanity in the Technological Age”, which expanded the “Cascais Call” and gave a voice to more than 60 additional artists in order to create a new “Water Manifesto from Art”.
Within the main exhibition, Spanish artist/researcher José Cosme presents Inquiry H₂O, an installation selected by Demetrio Paparoni for the Estoril Congress Centre. The work investigates the physical, biological, cultural, technological and symbolic dimensions of water, presenting it not only as a natural resource but also as a structuring principle of memory, identity and the evolution of humanity.
As José Cosme, Academic Director of the Biennial’s international research programme, states: “The Water Biennial proposes understanding art not only as a space of representation, but as a research method capable of generating useful knowledge to address the ecological and technological challenges of the present.”
Curatorial Team: Margarita Aizpuru · Nilo Casares
General Coordination: Júlio Quaresma
Academic Director: José Cosme
