Sara Bonaventura, Lukas Taido: Water Dream Memory

The exhibition Water Dream Memory is hosted at Palazzo Zorzi, headquarters of the UNESCO Office in Venice, during the 61st Venice Biennale. The exhibition explores water as a threshold element: unstable, elusive, and suspended between presence and disappearance. 

Organized by WAMU+NET and curated by Eriberto Eulisse, the exhibition brings together artistic practices that translate scientific research into immersive and poetic experiences. The selected artists present works developed through the S+T+ARTS AQUA MOTION residency program, seeking to capture the fluid intersections between science, history, and the memory of water. The artworks exhibited at the UNESCO Office in Venice, represent the pulsing work in progress of artists’ residencies. 

Sara Bonaventura’s Thermal Alchemy, developed during her artist residency ”Re-imagining Water”, hosted by the Municipality of Montegrotto Terme (Padua), explores the thermal waters of Montegrotto Terme, moving across archaeology, geology and biology. Her multimedia work traces a cosmic journey from the Earth’s origins to the pulsating heart of the Euganean Hills, where water becomes the bridge between deep geological time and the unconscious. Inspired by the latest theories in astrobiology, which identify primordial hot springs as the biochemical cradle of life, the narrative retraces the planet’s history in 15 minutes. From the emergence of anaerobic and aerobic life in the ancestral ocean to the secrets of endosymbiosis, we rediscover in the cyanobacteria of the Euganean muds, the primordial witnesses of an uninterrupted biological epic.

The thermal water circuit is understood not merely as a geological phenomenon, but as a healing ritual rooted in the genius loci of the Hills. This ritual of ancestral reconnection is embodied by the underwater performance of Julie Gautier, inspired by the figure of the priestess of Reitia, the ancient Venetic deity of waters and healing. The springs emerge as a Thermal Alchemy released by volcanoes without craters: a liquid bridge between the memory of the rocks and human matrix. Developed in collaboration with the Museo del Termalismo Antico e del Territorio, this artwork is an invitation to perceive thermalism as a cosmic embrace, where the water flowing today is the same that, for billions of years, has guarded and regenerated the mystery of life.

Lukas Taido’s work, created during his residency at the Archaeological Park of the Campi Flegrei (Naples), titled Intermittence, as part of the challenge “Echoes of Liquid Knowledge”, investigates the ancient Augustan aqueduct (1st century AD). By revealing a rupture where contemporary heavy infrastructure intersects this historic system, it contrasts sustainable Roman engineering with today’s water management practices. The Augustan Aqueduct is a unique monumental infrastructure that sustained several Roman iconic cities, such as Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Naples, eventually flowing into the Piscina Mirabilis: an amazing hydraulic structure. From this site, the water supplied countless ships that navigated the Mediterranean, connecting the most remote areas of the Roman Empire. Taido’s work transforms the archaeological evidence of ancient stones and water flows into a visual experience that speaks of ingenuity, persistence, and sustainability. Through this video installation, the artist highlights the stark paradox of our consumption patterns.

Today, by contrast, many diesel trucks pass by the ancient hydraulic structure, burning fossil fuels, emitting CO2 and toxic fumes to haul palettes of bottles filled with water from the same spring, sold to citizens in thousands of small plastic containers. In this work, convoys of trucks bypass forgotten vestiges of the old aqueduct, a silent, resilient, unparalleled symbol of farsighted water management that, 2.000 years ago, provided water for free to all citizens, requiring no energy consumption and generating zero emissions.

The exhibition aims to make an understated contribution to this year’s Venice Art Biennale, titled In Minor Keys. It aims to stimulate a reflection on the condition of all overexploited freshwater ecosystems and draw on the “memory of water” to share a dream, and a hope, for a greater collective sense of responsibility toward nature. 

Open from 11am to 6pm. Closed on Mondays.