Confluence Berlin
03-09-26
Berlin
Berlin
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 3–6 September 2026, representatives of 58 water bodies from 18 countries will gather in Berlin to explore how Europe's relationship with water can be reimagined.
The Confluence brings together artists, scientists, Indigenous representatives, lawyers, designers, policymakers and civil society to exchange practices ranging from the Rights of Nature and river restoration to hydrofeminism, citizen science, multispecies democracy and cultural rituals. The programme also includes a keynote address by the aquatic philosopher and cultural theorist Astrida Neimanis
Hosted by the River Spree, the Confluence understands water not simply as an environmental resource but as a cultural and political actor. It connects emerging initiatives—including river parliaments, Rights of Nature campaigns and new forms of ecological governance—and cultivate broader public engagement with the question of how people and water bodies can coexist more justly.
Date: 3–6 September 2026 Location: Berlin, Germany
Curated by
Symbiotic Lab (Léon Gross & Jakob Kukula)
Hosted by
FLUSSBAD Campus · SPORE Initiative · Spreepark Art Space · Floating University Berlin
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.
