The waters of the present are a living archive of the relations it sustains with humans and more than humans in a range of entangled temporalities. They contain information about the places and bodies with which they have been related. Which are the myths, stories, and imaginaries of the Mediterranean that are currently being woven together?
Under a Western gaze of the planet, the Mediterranean, as its name indicates, was conceived as a center of the known planet. As a fluid space, it has been a projected surface of contested and disputed futures through which systematic violence has been effectuated by privileged nations towards different life forms.
Transforming heterogeneity into homogeneity, the Mediterranean(s) and its life flows have been appropriated by the Western European world as commodities. Guided by the question, what is currently at the center and what deserves our urgent attention, we seek to contribute to displace the eurocentric gaze of the Mediterranean. To echo some of its overshadowed histories, we approach the Mediterranean(s) sea in plural, as a salt water body mass that connects a network of sweet water bodies of rivers which flow into each other, navigating borders and coasts, reaching depths and surfaces. As an interconnected body with multiple agents – human and more than human – cooperating and configuring its waterscape. Our aim is to contribute to a wider re-assemblage of the identities and imaginaries around the Mediterranean cultures in its plurality. Intersecting Mediterraneans(s) is composed of two pieces which are in dialogue.
The first piece “Intersecting Mediterraneans(s) from its Regional Rivers I” is an installation which involves 36 meters of fabric and a multichannel audio series. The fabric acts as a receptive membrane which carries memories, myths, relationships, and affects that nourish the Mediterranean. The fabric is thus activated by the intersecting voices from the Po, Isonzo/Soča, Neretva, Cem Cijevna, Düden, Kishon, Nile, Medjerda, Chelif, Moulouya, Ebro, and the Rhône rivers, amongst other rivers. The textile bonds the river and the ocean, and becomes a living archive of this encounter. Intersecting Mediterranean(s) aims to acknowledge the specificities of contexts and life flows that nourish the Mediterranean.
“Intersecting Mediterraneans(s) from its Regional Rivers II” are two video performances in which, guided by a long textile, Daniela and Elizabeth follow the Lao River reaching the Mediterranean Sea in Calabria, Italy. The textile gives visibility to the current, setting the direction and manifesting the pace. The textile connects and carries both Daniela and Elizabeth, furthermore, the textile bonds the river and the ocean, and becomes a living archive of this encounter.
The following female voices have contributed to the audio component: Boushra Adi, Martha Ardila, Shiran Berkobich, Zahra Berramdane ناضمرنب ةرهز, Abla Eloudghiri, Lucía Gallón, Juditt Gatt, Miriam Gatt, Francisca Hartmann, Lea Mijaçika, Dina Mimi
