streams of permeation in a thickening swamp

an urban swamp, multilayered-basin absorbing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, holds bustling streets and cacophonic skies. A homogeneous substance hardens regulatory systems solidifying oppressive infrastructures. Compressed mud, once annelids and mollusks, are pierced by leaking echoes catalyzed by viscous amalgams defying absorption; they tremble underneath. Subterranean rivers sculpted by humming stories smeared with roots, rocks, sand, and clay. Dynamic, they ooze as aqueous traces; what stories do they echo?   

streams of permeation in a thickening swamp was a three-day workshop through which we shared exercises to attune to the city’s hardened and silenced waters, reflecting on the overheard relationships embedded within their errant streams and their socio-political dimensions including water access, weaponization, and solidarity.

what relations could we trace between Berlin’s hard waters and the city’s sociopolitical and geographic life?

drawing inspiration from first nation scholar donald dwayne's concept of wâhkôhtowin, meaning "bent-walking-over-the-land reciprocity," writer cristina rivera garza archiving composively, and william burroughs cut-up methods, we will share conversations, deep listening, walking, and collective composition exercises with which to mourn, resonate, and listen to Berlin’s murmuring waters and the voices of resilience in times of political unrest, opening questions on how to transform political hardness into shared experiences of care, attention and empathy.