Eva Garibaldi and Jeanna Kolesova: Desiring the Wetland: State Power, Resistance, and the Echoes of History

In this public conversation called Desiring the Wetlands: State Power, Resistance, and the Echoes of History, guest artist and researcher Eva Garibaldi and Fellow Jeanna Kolesova bring their research on two starkly different wetland sites into dialogue: Lake Cerknica in Slovenia and the Meshchyora Peatlands in Russia.

How do states reshape wetlands and how do wetlands and their communities resist? In this public conversation, Eva Garibaldi and Jeanna Kolesova examine the clash between state desires and local realities, using two starkly different sites: Lake Cerknica in Slovenia and the Meshchyora Peatlands in Russia. Through artistic research and dialogue, they will trace the tools of control states have wielded, the consequences of their actions, and the echoes of these struggles today. Structured in three thematic blocks, the event will explore historical desires, acts of defiance, and the lingering weight of the past.

Text: Jeanna Kolesova

Accessibility:

On-site:
Unfortunately, the venue in Innsbruck is not wheelchair accessible. We cordially invite wheelchair users and people with hearing impairments to participate in the event via Zoom. The Zoom broadcast offers the option to enable subtitles. Restrooms are marked as gender-neutral. Seating with backrests and armrests is available, as well as the option to sit on the floor. Additionally, there is sufficient space to accommodate mobility aids of all kinds.

Online:
The event is hybrid and will be held in English. You can either attend in person at the Künstler*innenhaus Büchsenhausen or follow the event online via Zoom. To participate via Zoom, please send an email with the subject line “Zoom Link: Jeanna” to office@buchsenhausen.at. You will receive the Zoom link via email approximately one hour before the event begins.

Eva Garibaldi is a Slovenian multidisciplinary artist, designer, and researcher based in the Netherlands. Her practice explores wet ecologies where binary understandings dissolve, and more-than-human relations come into focus. Working through fieldwork, listening, and material experimentation, she investigates how environmental processes are sensed and mediated across bodily, geological, and planetary scales. Drawing from feminist and queer ecologies, she uses murkiness, porosity, and speculative storytelling to question dominant narratives of landscape to imagine alternative planetary imaginaries.
https://evagaribaldi.com/