The installation points to the importance of water, the single most vital ingre-dient in the potion of life. In myths and fairytales water symbolizes fertility, creation and imagination.The mythological Chinese river The Red River or Red Water flows from Kunlun, a utopian land. Now, across our dystopian world, rivers are running red, but these are no fairytale incidences, the causes are man made. In just one example, the Ambarnaya River in Russia turned red on May 29, 2020, the result of a 21,000 tonne oil spill. We are increasingly polluting our waters, and at the same time, stripping them of their natural protection and filtration systems; the trees and vegetation that grow along their banks. Just like the river Styx, our red waters carry us to the depth of an underworld of death and despair, the diametric opposite of the world of light-ness and gaiety promised to us daily by the purveyors of the consumerist dream.

2021, site-specific, schlossbergstollen, graz,  at
single chanel video 7’06” colour, sound, plasticfoil, led light, beamer | photos: ulrike rauch