Gentle Cleanser
Anticipating the final days of the Belgrade iteration of The Other Side of Water (16th-19th May), the last Chapter, “The Other Side of Water: Remnants of Hope”, overflows Podroom from 12th to 14th of May with work which looks into the impact of the current climate crisis on the world’s seas and rivers and the role of water resources in shaping the near future.
Diana Barquero Pérez’s If You Think You Can Grasp Me, Think Again, will look at the transformations of the Térraba Sierpe National Wetland, a protected wetland in the southern area of Costa Rica currently manipulated through a purely extractive lens without considering the ensuing complexity of the social and environmental consequences. Marijana Radović’s Gentle Cleanser focuses on the Mediterranean Sea, where millions of small replicas of jewels and silks are shipped every second from East to West in large containers leaving behind a toxic trail. Her sculptures are made from those plastic replicas, purchased in small shops around the Mediterranean basin. Ivan Marković’s video series portrays the absurdities in the way humans have used, destroyed and attempted to recreate nature in their pursuit for comfort and pleasure. Škart Group’s banner-like chants use wordplay and visual language to celebrate water as both a means and a subject of contention and struggle.
These residues of human interaction with its environment which have tainted and forever changed the world’s waters is what consumes the gallery space during these three days.
Gentle Cleanser is on display in Podroom Gallery 14th-16th April and 12th-19th May.
“I hang here as a memorial to the luxuries of the past.
A tangible epitaph to the echoing ripples in the distance.
A modest bouquet for the bygone splendours of waters past.
I wear the traditional costume of a daily face wash,
enforced by the forbidden practice of lavish formulations,
embellished via shipping of the waters past and dripping.
I chant the rituals of self-care from the times of plenty.
Gently remove your make-up with plenty of water.
This gentle formula is moisturising and non-stripping.
Please, extend a hand to the cause of opulence fallen and
help us turn gold into water again.”
A tangible epitaph to the echoing ripples in the distance.
A modest bouquet for the bygone splendours of waters past.
I wear the traditional costume of a daily face wash,
enforced by the forbidden practice of lavish formulations,
embellished via shipping of the waters past and dripping.
I chant the rituals of self-care from the times of plenty.
Gently remove your make-up with plenty of water.
This gentle formula is moisturising and non-stripping.
Please, extend a hand to the cause of opulence fallen and
help us turn gold into water again.”