Videoart / Documentary
Exhibition, 26 June 2025 – 1 February 2026 – London
Structured around five interconnected themes – Aridity, Rain, Glaciers, Surface Water, and Groundwater – the exhibition takes visitors on a terrain-led journey, revealing freshwater’s significance as a source of life, its mismanagement as a cause of disaster, and its role in shaping ecological and social realities.
Thirst is a universal human experience shared with most living beings. With only 3% of the water on Earth being freshwater, our land thirsts too.
‘Thirst: In Search of Freshwater’ explores humanity’s vital connection with freshwater as an essential source of life and pillar of good health.
From ancient Mesopotamia and Victorian London to modern-day Nepal and Singapore, the exhibition highlights the vital role of freshwater in shaping health and ecosystems; the consequences of mismanagement, like the spread of infectious disease; and community-led solutions to the global water crisis.
‘Thirst’ features 125 objects, including historical artefacts, contemporary materials and artworks from Gideon Mendel, Chloe Dewe Mathews, Susan Schuppli, Anthony Acciavatti, Dala Nasser, M’hammed Kilito and Adam Rouhana, amongst others. Through new commissions by Raqs Media Collective, Karan Shrestha and Feifei Zhou and Zahirah Suhaimi (SEACoast), we invite you on an immersive journey to uncover our relationship with water.
“Arab Fluids” documents qanats in Palermo, still used in in what is left of the prosperous “Conca d’Oro” citrus orchards, and the abandoned subterranean canals in Palermo—both integral to cultural heritage yet largely unacknowledged. It explores the reminiscence of this past tradition, journeying through sites and atmospheres linking Palermo’s under- and overground worlds.
The exhibition is curated by Janice Li.
Directed by Dario Di Liberti
Produced by Francesca Gattello
