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Photo: Helena Roig

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Confluence of European Water Bodies

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Part of the events is reserved for the participants of the Confluence. The events open to the public are marked in the program.

From October 3-6, the second edition of Confluence of European Water Bodies, hosted by TBA21-Academy / Ocean Space, takes place in Venice.

Confluence of European Water Bodies was created in response to the increasing water challenges and the need for water democracy around the world. It aims to deepen the understanding of “rights of nature” in Europe from a cultural perspective.

This initiative is made up of more than 25 grassroots communities consisting of artists, activists, lawyers, and ecologists representing seas, lakes, rivers, lagoons, and glaciers from across Europe. The community seeks to promote new dialogues and relationships with water, with the ultimate goal of developing new strategies to effectively represent water in European cultural, legal and political arenas.

The program in Venice emerges from the many water bodies participating in the Confluence. It was co-developed with NICHE (Ca' Foscari University) and Italian Buddhist Union (UBI) and in fundamental dialogue with local activist associations Comitato per le Grave di Ciano (River Piave) and Poveglia per Tutti (Venice Lagoon).


The Confluence of European Water Bodies
is founded by the Embassy of the North Sea, ILP Mar Menor and TBA21–Academy and supported by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice: NICHE (THE NEW INSTITUTE Center for Environmental Humanities), GARN (Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature), the Italian Buddhist Union, Creative Industries Fund NL, Venice Climate Change Pavilion and ZIN Doc.

Program

  • Thursday, October 3

A welcome ceremony at Ocean Space led by the Water Bodies Orchestra in collaboration with the Venice Climate Change Pavilion (Closed session).

Screening of "I Am The River, The River Is Me", a movie starring the Whanganui River in New Zealand, the world’s first ecosystem with legal personhood. (Open to all, at Ocean Space)

  • Friday, October 4

Academic program with two panels – one on legal, one on artistic strategies – hosted by NICHE (THE NEW INSTITUTE Center for Environmental Humanities) at Ca’ Foscari University. (Closed session)

  • Saturday, October 5

An excursion to Poveglia, a small island in the central Lagoon of Venice, for a meeting with local activists. Afternoon workshop for the Diplomatic Suitcase at Panorama Gallery. (Closed session)

  • Sunday, October 6

Assembly in Ocean Space for the Grave di Ciano, a riverbed of the Piave River threatened by ill-thought climate adaptation strategies, in collaboration with Arts4theCommons. Afternoon performances and closing ritual by the River Sisters (Vistula) and Jessie Jack Ullevalseter (Akerselva). (Open to all, at Ocean Space)