About

9 Rivers is a collaborative project focusing on the importance of rivers. It was initiated in 2017 by Anne-Britt Rage (NO), Anneke von der Fehr (NO), Josiah Jordan (NZ) and Tracey Benson (AU).

9 Rivers brings together collaborative projects about the connections between water, ecosystems, wellbeing, humanity and culture. It was inspired by the ongoing Words for Water (2013-) project by founding member Tracey Benson.

9 Rivers explores different geographic locations, starting with the Oslofjord in Norway and the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. By looking at diverse ecosystems and climates, the artists hope to draw out narratives from the rivers to tell stories about place, environment and culture.

Concept

9 Rivers is linked to moments in time and the understanding of the land and water in recent past, not so recent past and deep past: the shifting and changing of tides and geographies. Temporality frames layers of storytelling between science, water management and human intervention.

We as a group of artists are very interested in the ability of science to tell stories about places and presenting different ways to offer up those stories to non-scientific audiences to expand knowledge and engagement.

Background
The intention with the 9 Rivers project and the overall Words for Water program of work is to engage the audience about the cultural and meditative aspects of water and to remind the audience about taking time to acknowledge the intrinsic beauty of nature and its relationship to us as part of us. The project is also about increasing awareness of issues that affect the river system health.

In December 2017, 9 Rivers became part of the ongoing Oslofjord Ecologies project led by Kristen Bergaust. This is a multi-site, multi-year project featuring the work of many artists working on relevant issues related to water and ecosystem health.