La Posta Foundation – Image Research Laboratory presents the winning artistic project of the call for proposals “Irrigation in the city” 2024 for 2025. As a result of the development of an idea long worked on by Andrés Agudelo Ganem, it is an honour for us to be able to offer the public the opportunity to enjoy this work.
This artistic proposal explores traditional forms of irrigation in the orchard and its water infrastructures, immersing itself in the territory to capture and translate observed phenomena into an artistic intervention.
The aim is to reinterpret and implement traditional methods, such as the system of dams and irrigation ditches, in the urban context, based on their materiality and specific components. The idea is to highlight, abstract and reinterpret the technical, aesthetic and conceptual richness of these hydraulic elements.
Through the installation, the public is encouraged to reflect on the interaction between hydraulic infrastructures and the natural and urban landscape, promoting awareness of the importance of these elements in the environmental and cultural context.
Irrigation systems and their narrative
The transformation of the territory is inherent to human life, to a greater or lesser degree cultural activity has influenced its environment. Throughout history there have been different ways of addressing this transformation and we have seen how these interventions have been used for control and the exercise of power. It is not only about exploiting natural resources, but also about spreading a state model or a specific ideology.
The Valencian orchard is a clear example of a highly intervened and manipulated territory.
The artificiality of the Turia riverbed is evident in much of its course due to various human modifications. Channels and diversions have significantly altered its natural flow, while dams and other hydraulic infrastructures control and distribute its waters. This intensive management has led to the almost total loss of its waters in certain sections, which are later recovered through a system of irrigation ditches, reflecting the complexity of its water management. In its final section, what was once a recognizable delta has been transformed into a geometric structure that is barely identifiable when it reaches the Mediterranean. These interventions not only demonstrate the control and use of water resources throughout history, but also the capacity of human beings to transform and adapt the natural environment to their needs, generating a landscape that combines elements of technical intervention and residual nature.
The water distribution systems along the river are intertwined as a complex network of infrastructures that transcend temporal boundaries. These constructions, some as old as the Arab occupation, form a mosaic that ranges from dams and weirs to irrigation ditches, bridges, cultivated fields, factories, mills, ports and roads. Some ancestral structures still function, adapting to recent irrigation and cultivation practices, while others have fallen into disuse, accumulating over time and space.
These constructions go beyond their practical function and rise to the category of sculptural elements. They mark the territory in a tangible and artistic way, shaping landscapes within the landscape itself. They are cumulative layers that tell stories of occupation, transformation and evolution, converging in a whole that transcends physical dimensions to become a work of art that emerges from the unique interaction between nature and human creativity.
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Andrés Agudelo Ganem is a Colombian visual artist based in Berlin. He started out in architecture and design, disciplines that gave him the tools and perspective to later become interested in and delve into art and explore themes such as identity, landscape, territory, urban spaces and the body. His training includes a Master’s in Artistic Production from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), which has been key to developing a critical view that questions and observes identity, both individual and collective, in a constant interaction between the specific and the global.
His artistic career includes projects related to spatial issues, which has allowed me to develop a particular sensitivity towards contemporary urban and environmental phenomena, especially the spatial production related to it.
The images I produce, loaded with symbolism, interact with each other and generate new meanings that go beyond mere direct representation. My practice includes photography, illustration, collage, video, and book design and publication. In addition to developing my own work, I have collaborated with other artists as a contributing member on conceptual projects, performances and installations, which enriches my interdisciplinary approach.
Call for the development of artistic projects: “Urban Irrigation”