With the installation Sounding Shells and a participatory workshop, A Seat for the Sea will join the Confluence of European Water Bodies 2026 in Berlin. From 3 to 6 September, Water Bodies will come together for rituals, listening sessions, a multispecies parliament, artistic interventions and discussions. The programme also includes a keynote address by the aquatic philosopher and cultural theorist Astrida Neimanis, alongside contributions from activists, researchers, artists, legal experts and water communities from across Europe.

Through these gatherings, Confluence aims to strengthen existing initiatives, foster new collaborations, exchange practical strategies for water management and cultivate broader public engagement with the question of how people and water bodies can coexist more justly.

The Berlin edition, curated by Symbiotic Lab, focuses on the River Spree and has been developed in close dialogue with the growing ‘Rights of the Spree’ (Rechte der Spree) initiative. Together with local hosts and partners.

Curated by

Symbiotic Lab (Léon Gross & Jakob Kukula)

Hosted by

FLUSSBAD Campus · SPORE Initiative · Spreepark Art Space · Floating University · Netzwerk Stadtraumkultur

Funded and Supported by

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung · JUA Foundation · Okeanos Foundation · Berlin University Alliance · IVU Stiftung · Backstagetourism · Heinrich-Böll-Bildungswerk Berlin · Netzwerk Rechte der Natur · Stiftung Living Rivers / GRÜNE LIGA · Goethe-Institut · Campus Stadtnatur Berlin

In Collaboration with

Rights of the Spree Initiative · Embassy of the North Sea · TBA21–Academy · ILP Mar Menor · Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) · River Collective

ABOUT THE CONFLUENCE

The Confluence is a growing pan-European network of water bodies and their communities, working across art, ecology, law, activism, research, and public engagement. Launched in 2023 by the Embassy of the North Sea, TBA21–Academy, and ILP Mar Menor at the shores of the Spanish saltwater lagoon, the first ecosystem in Europe with legal personhood, it calls for the legal and cultural recognition of water bodies as living entities with rights, intrinsic value, and agency. Acting as a campaign, research network, and community of practice, the Confluence explores what forms of democracy, governance, and stewardship might emerge when ecosystems are recognized as political and legal actors alongside humans.