Katrin Spranger will be showing her Aquatopia Water Fountain at Collect 2023, presented by North Lands Creative.
The fountain is a centrepiece of the Aquatopia collection which takes a critical view of our freshwater supplies, its increasing demand and pollution. In the UK, known for its rainy weather, we may not recognise the urgency to consider our water consumption. However, the combined impact of climate change, our food choices and our lifestyle are all putting increasing pressure on the water supply. Meanwhile, the UK population is set to rise from 67 million to 75 million by 2050, increasing the demand for water across the country.
Designed as a hanging, overgrown secret garden, draped around an industrial frame, surrounds an old milking jar suspended at its centre. Water drips very slowly from a tap at the bottom of the jar into a bowl underneath collecting the water. Subsequently, it evaporates at a slow rate, displaying the inherent, volatile properties of water. The journey of the water from the bell jar, through the tap, into the bowl, and then changing condition from liquid to vapour, plays with the notion of our existence. We die and decay, leaving behind traces of the building blocks of life. Similarly, limescale minerals deposited on the glass and the collecting bowl are the remaining traces of water, speaking of its absence.
Most of the water fountain was produced with the electroforming technique, a process in which a layer of copper is deposited on a surface that was made conductive. Further elements were resin coated, painted, and assembled.
