WHERE IS THE WATER? 2016 action, video, floating bench, rope, historic map 35 min video, 9′ bench, 8″ x 11″ map

A solo show about water issues in Porto Alegre, INFILTRAÇÃO, combines video, photography and sculpture. In the video, “Where is the water?” the artist is searching for water in a river port city where public access no longer exists. This begins a sequence of actions, developing into photographs of small painted fishing boats placed in spots of the city that were formerly public access points to the water but are now filled. The boats appear in the third action in excavated cubes of material, ambiguously indeterminate as land or water. The boats are above and below the surface of aluminum foil wrapped common objects ranging from street paving stones, toys, and bottles, to chocolate Easter Eggs, rocks and sticks. The wrapped objects lose their identity and known characteristics of weight and purpose, giving a sense of low-tech uncategorized fluidity. The exhibition considers the desire of water, people’s desire to be near water and impact of North American and European cultural permeation.