AQUA: Water Meets Contemporary Art at Château de Penthes

The group exhibition AQUA, curated by Adelina von Fürstenberg at Château de Penthes in Pregny-Chambésy, Geneva, transforms the historic venue into a multisensory exploration of water through contemporary art. Running until July 2, 2017, the show features works by over a dozen international artists. At the entrance, Stefano Boccalini's PublicPrivate (2017) marks the threshold, while Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's The Toilet on The River (1996-2016) stands as an external cabin evoking both a toilet and a temporary refuge. Inside, Dan Perjovschi's Drawing on Water (2017) connects the floors with fluid drawings. On the ground floor, Francesco Jodice's A water Tale (2008) depicts a working day in the desert, facing Marcello Maloberti's Kubec (2017)—25 military helmets placed on the ground, open to the sky to neutralize their military use through rain. Upstairs, Carlos Monatani's ongoing Aqua Planetae (2012-) assembles nearly 1,700 water samples preserved as capsules to be sent into a future without Earth. Alexander Kosolapov's Russian Revolutionary Porcelain (1989-1990) presents a pair of urinals that reference Suprematism and Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, highlighting the daily human use of twelve liters of water in Western toilets. The upper floors also feature video projections, including Jonathas De Andrade's O peixe (2016) and Shimabuku's Sea and Flowers (2012), immersing visitors in continuous flows of extremities, geographies, and sounds.