Intervention
What if the Ocean Were a City
A multiperspective program to aquatic and urban futures
'Syntopolis' reef prototype in STARESO, Rasa Weber & Atelier Marie Drouet. Photo: Till Timmermann, 2024
Interactive Program ON WATER | PARCOURS May 3-4, 2025
The interactive program in cooperation with ON WATER | PARCOURS takes place on two consecutive days and offers a varied program with an exhibition, a river cruise, interactive tours, co-creation workshops, talks, and panel discussions, to which we would like to invite you:
Using all your senses, you are invited to engage with the urbanization of the water landscape, the question of more than human design, the possibilities of a proximate and immersive design approach, and the potential for entrepreneurial and collective action as a catalyst for alternative future ecologies.
Underwater action cams will film the actual underwater installation at regular intervals to show its transformation into a new ecological habitat. The recorded footage will be shown both in the exhibition space together with other videos of the designer’s work and on the cruise boat.
As a highlight, you are welcome to embark on a cruise ship, which will transform into a research station. Meet scientists and future practitioners and become a future researcher yourself for one day, co-creating logbooks and maps that imagine possible futures for a blue-green city.
DAY 1 | May 3, 2025 re:future lab
In the laboratory-like exhibition, our visitors may collaborate in creating an installation from the components of the underwater sculpture, which will continue to grow with ship’s ropes and ceramic elements as the exhibition continues.
10:00 am - 12:30 pm Experimental Design Workshop
"What if the SPREE Were a City? Collectively Designing Aquatic Habitats"With Rasa Weber and Marie Drouet.
Participants will explore the principles of designing for aquatic environments:
- Track 1: CO-DESIGNING MARINE LIFE: Design a Habitat For a SPREE Dweller (Speculative walk with Rasa and search for potential habitats of your species),
- Track 2: WEAVING TOGETHER: Participating in the Design of Syntopolis (weave your thoughts and learn techniques with the designers)
2:00 pm | 3:00 pm | 4:00 pm Meet the Designer - Interactive Tours
During the afternoon, you can join interactive tours through the exhibition offering a behind-the-scenes look at the experimental laboratory.
Through direct conversations with design researcher Rasa Weber, these tours provide insight into the creation of "Syntopolis" and the broader research behind the project.
DAY 2 | May 4, 2025 On a cruise boat
On Sunday, the event expands onto the SPREE and welcomes you on a cruise ship that transforms into a research station. Meet scientists and future practitioners and become a future researcher yourself for one day, co-creating logbooks and maps that imagine possible futures for a blue-green city. Together, we will explore potential futures for Berlin’s waterways and beyond.
10:00 am - 11.30 am Symbiotic Waterscapes Discussing from an immersive design and science perspective
Starting with a boat ride from Berlin-Mitte, bringing together designers, researchers, and the public for talks and discussions, we arrive at Kaisersteg next to the re:future lab in Oberschöneweide.
Design researcher and diver Rasa Weber will discuss with
- Prof. Dr. Arlinghaus (Fisheries Professor @ Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Integrative Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys)
- Laurin Kilbert (M.A. Designer, Life-Centered Design, founder @ Symbiotic Spaces Collective)
- Prof. Dr. Nadine Göppert (Hydrogeology Professor @ Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, tbc)
On a solar cruise boat from Mitte to Oberschöneweide
Departure 10:00 am (Boarding 9:30 pm)
Historischer Hafen/Fischerinsel (Mitte)
Arrival 11:30 am
Kaisersteg (Oberschöneweide)
12.30 pm - 15.30 pm LET'S GET AQUATIC A floating future design lab
You are invited to engage with ongoing experiments and discussions at the intersection of design, ecology, system design, future forsight and urbanism. This future design workshop opened with a reflective impulse lecture by curator Madeleine Schwinge, and led by re:future lab fellows invites you to co-create a future map for a blue-green Berlin in 2050.
Transform today's urban waste into new islands of hope and, from the perspective of a future generation, imagine sustainable living spaces for all those who share the city as a living and working space.
Boat deck: Kaisersteg (Oberschöneweide)
Stay 11:30 am - 15:30 pm
16:30 pm - 18:00 pm Blue-Green Cityscapes Discussing from an entrepreneurial perspective
In the late afternoon, the final leg of the journey takes participants back to the city center with a boat ride from Oberschöneweide to Mitte.
During the return, you can listen to some more talks with designers, researchers, and entrepreneurs before we end the day once we arrive back at the starting point.
Meet innovative start-ups executives, and future trailblazers, such as:
- Prof. Dr. Heike Hölzner (Entrepreneurship Professor @ HTW University of Applied Science)
- Nina Heine (Shit2Power, tbc)
- Liviu Mantescu (Watergenetics, tbc)
On a solar cruise boat, Oberschöneweide - Mitte
Departure:
Kaisersteg (Oberschöneweide)
16:30 pm (Boarding 16:00 pm)
Arrival:
Jannowitzbrücke (Mitte)
18:00 pm
About ON WATER | PARCOURS
The interactive program, co-curated by Dr. Nina Samuel, is supported by the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) as part of the »ON WATER | PARCOURS« series. Alongside the TD Lab’s »ON WATER | DIALOGUE « and the exhibition »ON WATER | WasserWissen in Berlin«, which will open at the Humboldt Labor in the Humboldt Forum in October 2025, »ON WATER« forms a new focus of BUA on the topic of water research in Berlin.
The »ON WATER | PARCOURS« series cultivates a dynamic, multidirectional exchange of knowledge about Berlin’s blue-green infrastructure. Bringing together researchers from all four universities with Berliners, communities, artists and experts, it fosters collaborative research and learning. Through participatory formats and events at the intersection of art and science – held in cultural venues and along Berlin's waterways – it bridges local, global, human and non-human perspectives on water.
A key aspect of this exchange is embodied sensory knowledge that enriches scientific perspectives and expands how water is understood and experienced. In line with BUA’s commitment to socially relevant research, »ON WATER | PARCOURS« seeks to engage urban society in exploring the critical role of water, addressing pressing questions about the sustainable future of the city and the essential functions of its urban hydrosphere.
In cooperation with
