What Kind Of River Has No Middle?

We Work In The Dark (Obaro Ejimiwe & Luiza Prado)

Speaker, slana river water, plexiglass container.

In 2019, the Brumadinho Dam disaster caused catastrophic loss of life and environmental damage in Minas Gerais State, Brasil. The dam contained the tailings — byproducts of mining operations — of a nearby iron ore mine; the toxic mud spilling from the dam changed the course of bodies of water, and affected water supply in the region. Recently, water leaking from an abandoned iron ore mine the Slana river in Slovakia caused extensive environmental damage to the surrounding areas; a repeating pattern of emerging through contaminated, orange waters.

This sound installation evokes the processes of manipulation, vibration, and redirection of bodies of water and minerals implicated in iron ore mining. A container filled to the brim with water from the Slana river stands directly over a speaker emitting deep bass frequencies. The bass agitates a layer of orange sludge at the bottom of the container, occasionally mixing it with the rest of the liquid; a perpetual threat of spillage.

This piece is the first of a series of installations on rivers, toxicity, and encounters between human and more-than-human agents in the context of the climate emergency.