Liquid Tools for River Fiction (2022)

Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin's essay ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ DTAFA was invited to conceive and facilitate a workshop for the Arts and Science department at the University of Applied Arts.

commissioned by
University of Applied Arts Vienna (Arts & Science)

partners and scientific advisors
Nationalpark Donauauen
Christina Gruber (Sterlet Hatchery Donauinsel)

© EGE KÖKEL

In the hands-on workshop Liquid Tools for River Fiction, students were invited to reflect on their relationship with the Danube through exploring the role of tools as protagonists who drive our stories. These tools may establish, shift or reshape the relationships between us and the river, they may gauge the feeling of proximity and distance. Students transformed found objects into materialised, ephemeral and latent tools; into tools to connect, to (en)act, to think and remember, into tools to breathe, to swim, to make love, to survive and to balance - into tools that carry stories.

The workshop was accompanied by field trips to the Sterlet hatchery station at the Donauinsel, with a talk by Christina Gruber, as well as a guided tour through the Nationalpark Donau Auen, including a boat tour along and Altarm.