In the Memories of Rivers

To investigate and recount a specific event that occurred in the past, we usually look for answers in the archives. But what if the archives do not exist? Are personal memories that are not archived real? Do these memories belong to us? How do you retrieve an unarchived personal memory? How do you retrieve a burned diary? On the first day of 2022, along the west bank of the Rhine, I walked alone from dusk into the night. Throughout my life I have encountered countless rivers and walked along them countless times. This 4-channel sound installation is a “quartet” for a few of them. In between is a baby bathtub where my initial dreams happened. Such tubs can also be found in a Chinese wet market, where people use it to contain fish, shrimp and snails. In this work, I use walking as a method, the five senses as an interface, the environment as a medium, and memory as an archive to track those that have been haunting my life decisions. Through this practice, the rivers are to be relieved from metaphor for memories, and they literally exist somewhere in different time and space, interlinking into a network, storing a past that was once denied access.