OrtaWater - Purified water from the Canal Grande Venice and the Emmersingel Rotterdam

Studio Orta - 1360
Studio Orta - 1360

Date: 2005 - 2006
Ref: 1360
Matériaux: Painted steel structure, Lambda photograph laminated, 2 OrtaWater bottles, tap
Dimensions: 13 x 32 x 35 cm (Limited edition of 10)
Exhibition history: 2011 galerieofmarseilles France; 2006 Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam; 2005 Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venezia
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 sketch 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. 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). 
The OrtaWater edition is a duo of silkscreen printed glass bottles containing the pure water extracted from the Canal Grande in Venice and the Emmersingel canal in Rotterdam. Water was purified and desalinated in the OrtaWater Purification Factories on exhibition at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venice for the Venice Biennale (2005) and the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam (2006).