When water comes

This installation addresses the absence of water in Donetsk, where access to water became severely limited. It brings together my father's experience in Donetsk and my own experience of collecting rainwater in Salzburg. While my father collected rainwater out of necessity, I repeated the same action thousands of kilometres away, creating a physical connection between our two realities.

The installation also included constantly dripping taps placed beneath a video. I deliberately left the taps running. Visitors repeatedly turned them off, assuming that someone had simply forgotten to close them. This everyday gesture became an encounter with a reality that is difficult to perceive from the outside: in one place water is so abundant that people instinctively stop its flow; in another, its absence has become part of everyday life.

Alongside the installation I presented a letter written by residents of Donetsk to Vladimir Putin, describing the situation with water in the city and begging him for help. I found the letter in Russian propaganda media, where it had been published as evidence of the situation at the time.