Dowsing across fields

This on-going research investigates how scientific logics and privatisation threaten informal practices dealing with water. By focusing on the role of the dowser - a person able to find underground water by using unconventional methods - I researched how their role changed across time in different social environments.
I perceive the dowser as an archetypal figure crucial for making water accessible and for the development of human settlements. Is today's dominant scientific thinking threatening their survival? Is their knowledge changing the way water is perceived and shared? The controversy around the dowser’s practice puts into conversation different beliefs, economies, politics and knowledge.

The multimedia installation consists of a video, a performance, sculptures and a series of poems and of drawings.

As a continuation of the research, I am currently designing, in collaboration with a dowser, a walk that combines demonstration of dowsing techniques with storytelling. The workshop will be a collective exploration about unconventional mapping methods and the multiple ways humans relate to an environment.
It will take place on the 25th of August during the festival CorrectionVille#3.

Images and video: Alcaeus Spirou & Rositsa Atanasova