AKI INOMATA, "Thinking of Yesterday’s Sky“, Nagi town (Okayama), 8th November 2022
Marcel Rickli „Cryomancer“, Rhône Glacier, August 2025
Amid the accelerating climate crisis, “Converging Waters– Kumo, Kawa, Kōri“brings together works of Japanese artist AKI INOMATA and Swiss artist Marcel Rickli in their exploration of water’s many forms and the fragile systems through which it moves. The artists invite us to engage with some of the contradictions of our time: urgency and paralysis, knowledge and inaction, persisting beauty and irreversible loss. Their art asks us not only to witness the ongoing transformation of our planet with our intellect and our senses, but to reconsider our place within the cycles of the Earth. At the heart of both works lies a deep engagement with technology, not as a solution, but as a tool for reflection, interpretation and care.
Here, visitors will experience delicate clouds that capture the fragility of the atmosphere – as a small, poetic weather system on its own terms. And water turning into ice, evoking the interconnectedness of our planet’s water systems through an artistic gesture.
Though geographically distant, Japan and Switzerland share values and challenges. By bringing Inomata and Rickli together, we invite you to join us in our reflection of how we could feel, think and act together, across the borders of countries, cultures and disciplines.
AKI INOMATA is an artist living and working in Tokyo, Japan. Focusing on how the act of “making” is not exclusive to humankind, she continuously develops and implements a process of collaboration with living creatures and other entities into artworks.
Bio
Marcel Rickli
Artist
Marcel Rickli is an artist living and working in Zurich, Switzerland. His work aims to capture an epoch in which humankind has become the most important influencing factor on our planet’s biological, geological and atmospheric processes: the Anthropocene.
Curators
Bio
Irène Hediger
Head, artists-in-labs program at ZHdk
Irène Hediger is the head of the artists-in-labs program at Zurich University of the Arts, and a curator, researcher, and lecturer working at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Her research focuses on collaborations across diverse knowledge systems and the interrelations of human and more-than-human entities.
Bio
Flurin Fischer
Research Associate, artists-in-labs program, ZHdk
Flurin Fischer is a research associate at the artists-in-labs program at Zurich University of the Arts, independent author and lecturer in film theory and transdisciplinary collaboration. At the core of his practice lies an eclectic interest in the diversity and complexity of our world.
Since 2003, the artists-in-labs program has been facilitating artistic research by way of long-term residencies for artists in scientific laboratories and research institutes. This programme is part of the Department of Cultural Analysis (DKV) at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and promotes sustainable collaboration between artists and scientists of all disciplines, not just in Switzerland but all around the world. These long-term interdisciplinary and cross-border collaborations provide artists with an opportunity to critically engage with the sciences and their experimentaland aesthetic dimensions. This includes explorations of the site of the laboratory, as well as a range of scientific topics, methods and technologies.
With the support of
Swissnex for the Planet
This exhibition is in collaboration with the Swissnex for the Planet initiative. From climate change to biodiversity loss, science has exposed deep fractures in the relationship between humans and the Earth. Swissnex for the Planet is an initiative to explore a new form of diplomacy focused on rebalancing human and nonhuman interests on this planet.
