The Impossibility of Sharing (Part 2)
The Augustiner Fountain in Zurich becomes the stage for a commemorative-political intervention. The fountain figure representing moderation is used as a symbol of redistribution and responsibility. A temporary tapping sculpture collects fountain water, accompanied by signs inviting passers-by to actively participate in the redistribution by pumping and filling. The tapped water is filled into portions and provided with instructions to take the water inside to a place of great drought and thus support the redistribution campaign.
Program
10.7. 6 pm: Opening Zürich Münzplatz
10.-13.7. 11-19: Participatory Redistribution, Zürich Münzplatz
11.7. 7 pm: Panel Discussion, ZAZ Bellerive - Zentrum für Architektur
Until 10.8.: Water Futures, ZAZ Bellerive
As a result of global warming, drought events around the world are becoming more frequent. Not only the Rhine, one of Europe’s most important transport routes, is at risk of drying up during the summer months as early as 2050. Even now, inland shipping is complaining about falling water levels, and further distribution conflicts are foreseeable. The Rhine — alongside the Dnipro and the Danube — could soon become a stage for distribution conflicts that may also be fought with weapons.
Who invented it? The Swiss.
Even though Switzerland today is better known for practices of privatizing resources, in Zurich, the idea of regulating the commons resource of water through communal use and redistribution was a lived practice for centuries. This is evidenced by the device at the Augustiner Fountain — a metal grate at the fountain trough where citizens once placed and filled their water containers. Everyone was allowed to draw water from the fountain for their daily needs. The fountain figure, an allegory of moderation, has since the 18th century pointed to the necessity of not overdoing it when taking water. The fountain is therefore both iconographically and practically a good example of a successful, site-specific overcoming of the tragedy of the commons beyond state or private actors, as described by Elinor Ostrom in Governing the Commons.
A production by PARA. Enabled and initiated by Art in Public Space (KiöR) of the City of Zurich. Supported by the Brunhilde Moll Foundation.