Brno Art Open, Czech Republic, 2025
Sonorous Bodies of Water is both a sound installation and water ritual, where water, sound, light and bodies interact with one another. The installation draws upon the history of healing waters and water-medicine in the Czech Republic. The installation’s “healing waters” are contained within three large metal singing bowls located in Brno’s historic water tank. These singing bowls are activated by sonic impulses, which excites the surface of the water to a state of dynamic geometric movement (Faraday waves). The sonic resonance of the bowls and water fills the water tank with sound and vibrates our own watery bodies, while the movements of the water are reflected with light. The sound frequencies of the different bowls change over time, sometimes coming together harmoniously and at other times sounding discordant.
The installation engages water as an active and powerful force: not only activating water in the singing bowls, but also within our own bodies. As Astrida Neimanis describes in her “hydrofeminism”, a body of water is not only ‘out there’ (as a lake or an ocean) but takes up residence in and as bodies of all kinds” (2017 80)—including our own. Water therefore challenges the pure interiority of our bodies, through leaks and gushes. This installation aims to get our bodies of water singing, both inside and out.