Water

September 17, 2023 – March 2, 2024

Water features work by Rebecca Beachy with Nina Barnett and Christine Wallers, Jennifer Buyck, Julie Carpenter  with Jane Norling, Eugenia Cheng, David Freid, Virginia Hanusik, Candace Hunter, Anna Johnson, Matthew Kaplan, Roland Knowlden, JeeYeun Lee, Jin Lee, Meredith Leich, Melissa H. Potter, Pierre-Alexandre Savriacouty, Tria Smith, and Ines Sommer.

Presented as a partner project of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Water uses the Chicago River as an entryway to discuss the interconnectedness and relational importance of water upon the City and its people. From pre-settler colonialism to present day, the availability of water has impacted the City of Chicago’s formation, rise, and current environmental concerns. The exhibition begins with a contemporary view of the Chicago River through the video of artist/architect Jennifer Buyck walking along the entire river. The exhibition also looks to Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River to correlate universal costs of exploitation, commodification, control, and renewal of waterways. Water’s impact and importance is much more than just economical and environmental. Water—essential to life—is a shared resource that connects all.

Water is presented throughout 6018North, with each floor housing four thematic sections: Now; Then; We the People – What Have We Done?; and Imagination. Through videos and photographs, Now depicts the present conditions of the Chicago River and Mississippi River. Then offers archives and historical documents of Chicago’s waterways. We the People – What Have We Done? explores the anthropogenic effects on water. Imagination features both representational and abstract approaches to water’s metaphoric quality. The sections We the People – What Have We Done? and Imagination contend with the dueling view of water as harsh reality (a reflection of climate insecurity) vs. abstract metaphor of possibility (of fluidity and adaptability). This dualism is what hydrofeminist Astrida Neimanis asks us to move beyond: “for us humans, the flow and flush of waters sustain our own bodies, but also connect them to other bodies, to other worlds beyond our human selves.” The exhibition, accompanying public programs, and convenings aim to reveal how waterways can be re-examined, better understood, and re-imagined, so that we can become better stewards of water and all that it connects.

An ongoing piece of the exhibition is a water parole donnée, parole rendu – an exchange of water stories in Chicago, by Chicagoans. Through a series of community storytelling engagements, people across Chicago collect water samples and tell the story of their water. Scientists, activists, and historians respond to the water and stories. The collection is presented in 6018North’s stairway connecting the themes of the exhibition. You are invited to contribute to this piece when you visit Water.

Water is a partner program of the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial. This exhibition is a collaboration between 6018North, Tricia Van Eck, the Villa Albertine, and Jennifer Buyck. Water is ongoing research in sustainable strategies for a 2024 exhibition as a part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art investigating and elevating Chicago’s rich visual art and design histories and creative communities. 

Water is partially supported by Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos. This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency through an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. 6018North projects are partially supported by a Gen Ops Plus Grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and individual donations.

Special thanks to WTTW for sharing How Chicago Reversed Its River. The first image above is a still from Chicago par ses rivières / Chicago by its rivers by Jennifer Buyck; the second is a still from Scaling Quelccaya by Meredith Leich.

The first event in this exhibition was Water Music on the Beach: Persephone at Lane Beach on September 17, 2023; the second event was Chicago River at the Scale of the Anthropocene a panel discussion with Jennifer Buyck, Adam Flickinger, Ron Henderson, and Phil Nicodemus at 6018North on September 22, 2023; the third event was the opening reception at 6018North with Surface Tension performance by Anna Johnson on September 24, 2023; the fourth event was Open House Chicago on October 14 and October 15, 2023; the fifth event was a Chicago Architecture Biennial Opening Reception that featured the performance Water Organoids by Baudouin Saintyves on November 2, 2023; the sixth event was Bottle Stringing with Tria Smith on November 4 and December 2, 2023, and February 17, 2024; the next events were a series of Moon Readings by Rebecca Beachy on November 4, November 5, December 2, 2023, and February 17, 2024; the eighth event was a Community Dye Pot with Edgewater Environmental Coalition on December 1, 2023; the ninth event was Healing & Repair: Water with Aneela Dean with Red Line Service on January 14, 2024; the tenth event was Healing Water: A Restorative Guided Meditation & Energy Exchange with Lake Michigan with Rhonda Wheatley and Red Line Service on January 21, 2024; the final event was a Water Conversation with Andrea Jackson, from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians on March 2, 2024.

Press

Chicago Reader “Rethinking our relationship to water,” January 9, 2024 by Kerry Cardoza (pdf)

Art Design Chicago “6018North, Trash to Treasure,” October 25, 2023 by Kaitlin Rikala (pdf)