Josephine Conen (@josephineconen)

BEHIND THE SCENES of our project exploring our fragile relationship with water, at once our biggest source of life and a brutal force capable of destroying that what we build up around us. Whilst typing a text on how lovely our collaboration was, I feel heavy. I am acutely aware how privileged l am not to have to faced water’s consequences in life (yet). The pressing reality of droughts and floods in other parts of the world shocks me, and I realize these scenes are still a soft interpretation of its power. Still, I hope that through subtle world-building, these realities can be felt before we are forced to wake up to disaster. Perhaps this is naïve. With @josephineconen, @julio_rebora and @mereteuch.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴: 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴. Through moving image, we explored water across scales and context from the industrial to the emotional. These scenes offer perspectives on what is, and what could be, when water becomes the lens through which we imagine the world. How will water use be governed? What will our lives look like in such contexts? What role will water play in our imagination? These questions guided our world-building and led to a beautiful collaboration. 𝘛𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴. A project by @josephineconen , @julio_rebora , @mereteuch and @siriheidweiller . With special thanks to @nvisible.studio for the amazing support, @waterschapdedommel for the great location, and our actors Luc, Aike and Roan for their joyful play. ♡ @designacademyeindhoven

TANZ Art direction and set design for @ceromagazine print issue with @tanztheaterwuppertal and Dancers @tsaiweitien @tandychristopher @lucieny_kaabral Creative Direction @graphicservicesnyc EIC @jonathanshia Fashion Director @levymelissa Art Direction @laraangelil @josephineconen Photography @laraangelil 1st @tom_frimley Digi @nicholasbeutler Styling @missmarzia Styling Assistant @pdlsra Scenography @josephineconen MUA @machiko_yano Hair @mayukonakae___ Production @theproductionfactory @georgiastaples_ @kipgrant Film @joelkerrfilms DOP @srafinney

HARVEST - is a film that examines the parallel existence of drought and flooding in the Netherlands and how these extremes inscribe themselves into human experience. It explores the present and future of a world in which water is both a vital resource and an existential threat. At the core of the investigation is the juxtaposition of two generations: a farmer, exhausted and drenched, seeking shelter in his barn after a flood, and children reenacting the emergency in a toy world, playfully processing the reality they are growing up in. The societal context is framed by the sewage treatment plant, a symbol of the regulation and control of water. The project examines the human relationship with water as both a resource and a threat, a regulated necessity and an unpredictable force. By connecting real-world observations with speculative narratives, it highlights the shifting role of water in our lives. HARVEST is a collaborative project I created with fellow artist and friends @mereteuch @julio_rebora and @siriheidweiller

TANZ Art direction and set design for @ceromagazine print issue with @tanztheaterwuppertal and Dancers @tsaiweitien @tandychristopher @lucieny_kaabral Creative Direction @graphicservicesnyc EIC @jonathanshia Fashion Director @levymelissa Art Direction @laraangelil @josephineconen Photography @laraangelil 1st @tom_frimley Digi @nicholasbeutler Styling @missmarzia Styling Assistant @pdlsra Scenography @josephineconen MUA @machiko_yano Hair @mayukonakae___ Production @theproductionfactory @georgiastaples_ @kipgrant Film @joelkerrfilms DOP @srafinney

HOCKETSE [installation/sculpture] HOCKETSE – derived from the gesture hocken (eng.: to crouch) is a critical exploration of closeness and the tensions between tradition and transformation. As the daughter of a Swabian mother and a Dutch father whose family survived the German bombardment of Venlo during World War II, I have long approached my German heritage with hesitation. The Swabian - a gathering where people crouch together - inspired me to examine the contradictions of crouching and how it can become a counter-gesture to isolation, division, and fear of the other in today’s fragmented social climate. A former local patriotic tradition that arrived in the present as a place of plurality, which marginalised groups like the LGBTQI community are redefining. The installation weaves together the Swabian tradition of rye straw roofing with the Dutch materiality of thatched roofs, connecting my dual heritage through regional craftsmanship. A space filled with a polyphony of voices, where conversations with my Swabian family members are embedded, reflecting on what means to them. The installation invites to reimagine physical closeness and dialogue in a time of growing social distance and whether we are willing to embrace proximity as a courageous gesture of openness. Special thanks to @metahaven @enissay.b and #MaudPlantec

TANZ Art direction and set design for @ceromagazine print issue with @tanztheaterwuppertal and Dancers @tsaiweitien @tandychristopher @lucieny_kaabral Creative Direction @graphicservicesnyc EIC @jonathanshia Fashion Director @levymelissa Art Direction @laraangelil @josephineconen Photography @laraangelil 1st @tom_frimley Digi @nicholasbeutler Styling @missmarzia Styling Assistant @pdlsra Scenography @josephineconen MUA @machiko_yano Hair @mayukonakae___ Production @theproductionfactory @georgiastaples_ @kipgrant Film @joelkerrfilms DOP @srafinney

FINDLINGE [installation/sculpture] FINDLINGE – A search for traces in Grünheide (Brandenburg, Germany) In Grünheide, geological, political, and ecological narratives intertwine to a story of suppression, silence, and resurfacing. Grünheide, formerly part of the GDR, has served as an economic hub for the region, both in the past and today. However, what makes Grünheide particularly intriguing is its role over the past 60 years as a site marked by political opacity. The deliberate destruction of files related to regional Stasi activities and the current obfuscation of industrially caused environmental damage through redacted documents in local politics and company boards, paint a picture of politically motivated concealment. To make this concealment visible, I draw on the image of the FINDLING (erratic boulder). Today immovable, FINDLINGE, as erratic remnants of the last Ice Age, communicate past movements to the present day and serve as artifacts that encapsulate traces and remnants within their material presence. It is especially their context, of site-specific presence, combined with their materiality that enables them to speak even after 10,000 years of silence. These FINDLINGE, constructed from shredded documents, are not any more results of geological processes but of human interventions, resurfacing the larger network of politics, history, and environmental damage in Grünheide, as traces of concealment. Special thanks to @metahaven and @c_zetti

AEON - explores our contradictory connection with nature. It is an attempt to give nature a voice by expressing its force through human bodies. The human chain as iconography of human evolution, as well as activist movement, shows both the responsibility and the potential inherent in this relationship. full video ➡️ link in bio BIG Love to all the wonderful people that brought this to life! full credits below ___________________

Josephine Conen (@josephineconen)

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