The School of Mountains and Water

Mountains are living bodies and play a vital role in the water cycle. “The School of Mountains and Water” sees itself as a school of unlearning the modern or colonial way of thinking that regards people as detached from their environment. It instead argues for a relationship of mutual care between the bodies of humans and those of mountains, glaciers and waters.

In the edition specially designed for St. Pölten, the “School of Mountains and Water” looks at the history of the Glanzstoff factory and intertwines past struggles to democratise access to safe drinking water with current ecological concerns, also raising the question of whether the city’s water supply is as infinite as it seems. In a performative audio walk the audience can learn about surprising perspectives on familiar surroundings through the history and stories of the local and global past.

With “The School of Mountains and Water”, “The Water Talks” (as part of “Tipping Time”) and the living sculpture “To Bloom / Florecimiento”, which she is developing for the art parcours, Amanda Piña continues her long-term research into the current loss of the planet’s cultural and biological diversity. The potential interplay of art, indigenous knowledge, activism and scientific research is at the heart of the choreographer’s work, which focuses on indigenous practices of reciprocity with the living.

Meeting point: Villa, Herzogenburger Straße 67

Weather information: As this is an outdoor event, we ask our audience to bring weatherproof clothing as well as sufficient sun cream and water.