OrtaWater - Light Messenger Wall Unit
Date:
2005
Ref:
1314
Materials:
Painted steel, 2 projectors, laminated Lambda photograph, aluminium flasks, plastic tube, 6 OrtaWater bottles, 1 bucket, copper tube, taps
Dimensions:
77 x 69 x 145cm
Exhibition history:
2013 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK; 2007 CEEAC Strasbourg; 2006 Galleria Continua Beijing; 2005 Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice
Courtesy:
Lucy + Jorge Orta
Originally co-commissioned by Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa for the 51st Venice Biennale and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam (2005-2006) the body of work OrtaWater focuses on the general scarcity of water and issues surrounding the privatization and corporate control effecting access to clean water. Starting from a rigorous analysis of this crucial resource through visual and textual research and collaborative workshops with engineers, Lucy + Jorge Orta create poetic artefacts, sculptures, large-scale installations and public artworks that evoke the cycle of gathering, purifying and distributing water.
One angle of their research visualises low-cost water purification devices enabling filthy water to be pumped and filtered directly from local sources. Fully functioning water purification devices are incorporated into the sculptures and linked by a network of pipes. Waters that have been purified and distrubuted include the Venice's Canal Grande, the Emmersingel in Rotterdam (2005) the Hang Pu River in Shanghai (2012), and the Canal de l'Orcq in Paris (2014).