S+T+ARTS4Water artists-in-residence Sonia Levy with Heather Ann Swanson and Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas at Becoming Fresh & Salty Drops (of water)

“Becoming Fresh & Salty Drops (of water)” was a month-long program celebrating the water and life forms of the Venice Lagoon, the largest coastal lagoon in the Mediterranean Sea, home to TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space. Stories, actions, and online and live events narrated and acted upon the future of the Venice Lagoon from ecological and magical perspectives.

Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas in conversation with Gražina Subelytė, Ocean Space, 2022. Part of Becoming Fresh Salty Drops, the STARTS showcase event at TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space, Venice. Photo by Enrico Fiorese.

The program began with a wetland kinship project in conversation with curator Camila Marambio whose public program for “Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol,” the Chilean Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale, activated a convening on World Peatlands Day. It was followed by an educational program for World Oceans Day; a walks program, “Venice as a model for the future?,” curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi; and TBA21–Academy’s program on the intersections of food and ecology led by Montero Sierra, Barbara Nardacchione, with Markus Reymann and Alice Ongaro Sartori in collaboration with chef Marco Bravetti and TOCIA!. This month-long program is aligned with the principles of regeneration and more-than-human rights promoted by the project Zoöp, which TBA21–Academy is a partner in.

The program concluded in a showcase event, Becoming Fresh Salty Drops – an evening of talks, screening, and expeditions that celebrated the water and life forms of the Venice Lagoon and concluded  the S+T+ARTS residencies organized by TBA21–Academy that explored ecological and magical propositions for coexistence with the Lagoon and her waters.

The evening featured both participating groups of artists (and their residency projects): S+T+ARTS artists-in-residence Sonia Levy with Heather Ann Swanson and Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas, along with Frédérique Aït-Touati, Gražina Subelytė, Meredith Root-Bernstein, and Alexandra Arènes and a special guest: Radio Amnion, with Sonic Transmissions of Care in Oceanic Space.

“Becoming Fresh & Salty Drops (of water)” is a month-long program curated by María Montero Sierra. Organized by TBA21–Academy and supported by S+T+ARTS. 


María Montero Sierra, Head of Program at TBA21–Academy and Curator of Becoming Fresh & Salty Drops (of water).  Photo by Enrico Fiorese.