Gluon presents a curated selection of projects emerging from the STARTS4WATERII residencies, where artists, scientists, and local communities collaboratively explored the often invisible ecological and social challenges of Europe’s ports and portcities.
Unfolding across site-specific locations in the city of Linz, the program brings together contemporary artworks, sound performances and keynote talks responding to the urgent ecological and social challenges present in Europe’s marine environments and rivers. Featuring Carlos Monleón’s sonic exploration of the Danube, a participatory performance by Stijn Demeulenaere inviting the audience to wade into the Danube and a keynote by the Territorial Agency on the Anthropocene mapping of Belgium’s Scheldt river, the program invites deep listening to waterways as dynamic actors in our shared environmental future. Continuing the success of its predecessor, STARTS4WaterI, this project brings together ports, water research institutions, artists and digital technologies, to inspire change and cultivate a more sustainable relationship with our environment.
POSTurbine - Photo: Carlos Monleón
STARTS4WaterII residencies showcase
Parliament of Streams: Turbine Chapels
Carlos Monleón (ES)
Parliament of Streams: Turbine Chapel immerses visitors in the disrupted soundscape of rivers altered by hydropower. Through fish-inspired sculptures and recordings from the Danube, it reveals how ancient riverine voices are fractured, turning flowing conversations into stuttering monologues.
Sounding Lines
Stijn Demeulenaere (BE)
Sounding Lines echoes how we humans shaped the North Sea seabed over the last 200 years. Stijn Demeulenaere has recorded the sounds of offshore wind farms and some of the last remaining wild oyster reefs in the North Sea.
Anthropocene Territories
Territorial Agency: John Palmesino (IT), Ann-Sofi Rönnskog (FI)
Anthropocene Territories redefine territory—not as a static, state-governed space from the Holocene, but as a dynamic, self-regulating system. This shift challenges traditional notions of sovereignty, belonging, and political order in an era of climate instability and interconnection.
Credits
This work was commissioned within the framework of S+T+ARTS4WaterII – Ports In Transformation with the support of the S+T+ARTS programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement LC-0269312. This second edition of S+T+ARTS4Water, titled Ports in Transformation, is made possible through a consortium of cultural and scientific partners including VITO, WAAG, GLUON, Camargo Foundation, OGR Torino, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Beta Festival / Dublin City University Adapt Centre, ArcaFuturis, PINA, Drugo More. Curated by Gluon.
Please note: The program for the Ars Electronica Festival 2025 is still in progress.
We are currently preparing all the information for the website and plan to put the full program online in the coming days – stay tuned!