Foto Marvin  Systermans

Waterbodies

This theatre piece stages the urgency of ensuring the fundamental rights of water: its protection, accessibility, and sustainable management. What would it take to address the political, social, and environmental challenges embedded in water governance? How can we reveal the manipulation of ecological denialism as one of the driving forces behind polarization and fascism? WATERODIES traces a journey from the Spree River to the Baltic Sea, uncovering stories of resilience, resistance, and ecological injustice. The piece begins by evoking the human pleasure caused by contact with water, its sound, its texture, and its fundamental impact on our bodies and senses. The celebration of this moment evokes the mysterious presence of Yemanjá, an African orixá, associated with the protection of the waters. Yemanjá emerges to summon memory, counter alienation and announce the urgent need for collective action to confront environmental racism, industrial contamination, the improper exploitation of natural resources, and the pollution of water in order to guarantee humanity’s future on Earth. Yet the sheer quantity and volume of messages propagated by powerful political and economic actors end up silencing Yemanjá. Suddenly, a conflict erupts between plastic and water, and scarcity becomes the central theme.

This performance was presented in collaboration with Spore Initiative in 2024 and Haus der Kulturen der Welt and at Common Tongue International Roma Theaterfestival  in 2025.

By placing water rights at the center of artistic and legislative action, this production reinforces the power of collective engagement and participatory democracy, reaffirming the role of theater as a dynamic space for dialogue, reflection and concrete legislative change.