At the Smart Water Knowledge Market, these and more questions were discussed on World Water Day 2026. Organised by the Knowledge Exchange Office of the BUA, it was the 7th On Water PARCOURS event that combines art, science and urban society along Berlin's waterways.

Plonk. A startling sound marked the start of the Smart Water Knowledge Market at the Einstein Future Digital Center in Berlin. Watching the clepsydra – a water clock – slowly sinking below the water surface, participants were invited to attune to water time. Then, the ceramic piece hit the solid bottom. Plonk! was the signal to follow the curator and artist Cleo Wächter outside to read the landscape shaped by water and by digital technologies.

[image 1 ©Alexander Rentsch: The Spree Credos Walk by Cleo Wächter asked: Which (his)stories are embedded in our Waters? and Viceversa - how is water embedded in us and the beliefs that we hold?]

Syncing with the Spree was a grounding experience allowing to open up for the complexity of invisible water embedded in virtual processes, and to reflect on the importance of water in knowledge production.

[image 2 ©Alexander Rentsch: The embodied exercises, artistic prompts and creative expressions built the foundation for the day]

Back inside in the Einstein Future Digital Center, participants explored the exhibition “Politics of Design – Per/Forming Critique & A.I. Ambiguous Intelligence”[1]. The critical student works strongly connect to the theme of the day, addressing virtual water and the water consumption of AI, technology, and digital infrastructures. The program continued with three brief talks setting the scene for a rich exchange in a World Café setting.

 

[image 3 ©Alexander Rentsch: Dr. Andrea Cominola, TU, reminded that only 3% of the water on earth is freshwater. He offered the context for a responsible use of technological solutions for resilient water futures.]

[image 4 ©Alexander Rentsch: Heindriken Dahlmann, HU, took the audience to the dimension of the global water trade related to food production]

The presentations contextualised how strongly water connects the political, economic, social, technological, ecological and personal spheres:

• Prof. Dr. Andrea Cominola, TU Berlin, Digital Water Systems
• Dr. Marlene Bart, Curator & Artist: “Thirsty Machines – An Artistic-Research Exploration of AI and Water”
• Heindriken Dahlmann, doctoral researcher IRI THESys and HU

• What are hidden water networks?
• What do water infrastructures working with digital technologies look like?
• What is a global water trade?
• Where is the water in knowledge production?
• Where do collective research practices play a role?

In an open atmosphere, Pauline Münch, Science Communicator and Tobias Schmid, Moderator, co-hosted by the World Café. They invited the audience to engage in discussions with each presenter. The three contributors hosted each a table to explore their topic more deeply with a changing group of the audience in each round. The Smart Water Knowledge Market created a space, to learn about the challenges that scientists and artists are facing in their research.

[image 5 ©Alexander Rentsch: Dr. Marlene Bart offered the perspective of artistic research and cultural events where art, science, and society encounter the issues of water use and AI together. This table was hosted by Sina Ribak, Co-Curator of this On Water Parcours event.]

The engaging dialogue-based format offered time for a knowledge exchange where both the expertise of the contributors and the thoughts and opinions of the participants were equally valid.

[image 6 ©Alexander Rentsch: Personal reflections, shifts of perspectives or resonances were collected with the help of a special talking piece, the sculpture (In)Finite made by Anna Kubelík. In the middle: Dr. Nina Samuel, Head of Knowledge Exchange Office BUA, leading the On Water Parcours series.]

[image 7 ©Alexander Rentsch: Passing the piece from one person to the next valued everyone’s participation. Holding the intriguing glass sculpture while sharing thoughts became a gesture of presencing and care.]

An audiovisual dimension was complementing the panorama of the Smart Water Knowledge Markt throughout the day. Artist and filmmaker Su Yu Hsin investigates the political ecologies of water. Her film Where Clouds Once Formed (2025), was on view for the public to experience the altered waterways of the Arizona desert that do not think, plan and work in water cycles. The artist works with the situatedness of a landscape transformed by the “thirsty” semiconductor production required for AI technologies.

The highlight of the afternoon, was the screening of Su Yu Hsin’s first part of her film triology. In the conversation between the audience and the artist, water (hi)stories became interwoven with gender and ecology. Finally, she shared a lifehack of how to film a semiconductor production site without being able to enter a factory.

[image 8 ©Alexander Rentsch: In Particular Waters Su Yu Hsin reflects on technology and the critical infrastructure in which the human and non-human converge.]

 

[image 9 ©Alexander Rentsch: In a poetic storytelling the film Particular Waters explores water in its plurality while connecting to a concrete place and time during the drought in Taiwan.]

Closing the program, the get-together offered a taste of an authentic circular economy food project: “Good Food Caterings” by Roots Radicals transforms rescued and regional ingredients into delicious spreads, pickles, chutneys, salads and sandwiches. The learnings of the day, became visible in a Zero food waste buffet that saves resources, including soil and water.

“My biggest takeaway: Water is not just a resource.It is a relation that connects technology, ecology, and our everyday life.” Tobias Schmid, co- moderator.

“The event made me think more about the water we don’t see, water that's part of trade, economy and politics.” Cho de Koningh, participant

World Water Day, March 22, 2026, made hidden aspects of water graspable, by bringing together perspectives from science, technology, art, and society. On Water PARCOURS continues to weave together scientific findings with real-world approaches.

The Smart Water Knowledge Market program was jointly developed by Sina Ribak and Dr. Nina Samuel.

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[1] Die im Rahmen der Professur von ECDF-Professor Florian Conradi entstandene Ausstellung zeigt kritische Design- und performative Werke von Studierenden; Entstanden im Dialog mit: ECDF-Professorin Michelle Christensen (TU Berlin / UdK Berlin).