Museums and artists

IGB enjoys exploring new paths in the joint production and dissemination of knowledge, also with partners from the realm of art and culture. As diverse as inland waters are, so too are the creative approaches: We contribute our expertise, for example, to exhibitions, installations and interactive formats, offer space for filming and experiments where possible, host artists as artists in residence in individual cases or take part in the artistic process ourselves. As a rule, however, we are not available as a sponsor.

Examples and inspirations

Futur II Konjunktiv | Ufer des Verschwindens

In Ufer des Verschwindens, the theatre collective Futur II Konjunktiv tells absurd, almost fairytale-like stories about people living on disappearing bodies of water. Inspired by research at lakes in Brandenburg, Lusatia and the Erzgebirge, as well as by discussions with IGB scientists, the performance blends fact and fiction. Performances in Berlin and Prague >

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Studio Austen | Stranger to the trees

In Stranger to the Trees, Studio Austen explores the question of how forest ecosystems react to the ubiquitous and irreversible dispersal of microplastics. As a postdoc at IGB, Austen and a team of researchers were able to show that microplastics get from the soil into the roots of birch trees. She was honoured in the Art and Science category at  Falling Walls 2024 for an artwork based on these findings.

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FrauVonDa | OderHive

FrauVonDa is moving away from the definition of the Oder as a border, and contemplates the river as a connecting body of water – towards a river community of three nations and as a uniquely diverse habitat for animals and plants. The OderHive project is being developed in close cooperation with IGB and in further collaboration with the Husö Marine Biological Station (Åland). With OderHive, FrauVonDa is responding to the IGB’s invitation to artistically accompany their research on the Oder River disaster 2022, as well as their participation in the European sturgeon reintroduction project. Dates >

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Marcelina Wellmer/Kunstbrücke am Wildenbruch | You are among us, we are among you

Marcelina Wellmer's exhibition explores the meaning of the human relationship with urban waters. Drawing on interdisciplinary scientific research and activist practices, the artist develops a fluid narrative that envelops the entire exhibition space, using techniques such as photography, underwater video, sound recording and water data logging to contextualise moving and frozen images of animals, pollution and technology. Water is presented as matter within us and as a material link between humans and non-humans, connecting all living forms in one habitat.

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Brandenburgische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung | Stadt, Land, Klima.

Brandenburg is experiencing climate change. Average temperatures are rising, precipitation is decreasing and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. From October 2023 to June 2024, an exhibition supported by IGB describes what is typical of the climate in Brandenburg and how it is changing in the region.

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FrauVonDa | THE Å//A UNIVERSE – HIDDEN SONGLINES OF THE BALTIC SEA 

How much do we know about this sea and its creatures, and how can we approach their subjective environment? The artists investigated the sensory perception of aquatic animals and spoke with marine and freshwater biologists about the millennia-old sturgeon and the symbiotic community structures between bladderwrack, plankton and shoals of fish. The result was a multi-month project in various formats. It was presented at the Berlin Academy of the Arts in 2023.

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Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte (HBPG) | Climate change special exhibition

In 2023, the HBPG focused on the overarching theme of climate change with three exhibitions and accompanying participation and outreach programmes. IGB supported the HBPG project teams by providing scientific advice on regional freshwater ecology and by providing data, images and video material for media education programmes such as the microbial printing workshop.

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Francisca Rocha Gonçalves | 2182 kHz

The soundscape composition by Francisca Rocha Gonçalves invites you to a multi-sensory exploration of aquatic soundscapes. It enables visitors to experience the challenges that aquatic creatures face in communicating in a noisy environment. The work was developed during a stay as a guest researcher at IGB.

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lieberanalog | Mäander

Tom Kretschmer's installation stands as a metaphor for the flow of one's own life in a society of unbounded growth. In 2022, he visited IGB to pre-test the angle of inclination, water flow and particle size of a meandering system.

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S+T+ARTS Residency | Flow of Berlin 

How can we redefine our relationship to water in Berlin and Brandenburg in order to maintain a liveable and sustainable future for all? Studio Lapatsch|Unger and Johanna Schmeer investigated this question and created the artwork "Bodies of Water". IGB was involved in the Local Expert Group in 2021.

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Dane Komljen, Jenny Lou Ziegel und Zsuzsanna Kiràly | Artists in Residence

In 2019, the three filmmakers shot scenes for their experimental film "Afterwater" at Lake Stechlin. They got inspired by the IGB LakeLab and by scientific findings in the form of tables, diagrams, graphics, underwater shots or microscopic images.