Manifesto

Viskan

Viskan

Viskan is the name of a 2200 square kilometre watershed with a 140-kilometre-long river, many tributaries, and hundreds of lakes. They are situated in the southwestern part of Sweden and have their outlet in the Kattegat/North Sea. Viskan was created when the ice cap withdrew some 13000 years ago. The waterways, wetlands and lakes within the watershed have been straightened, modified, and drained, and numerous industries have greedily taken energy from the fast-flowing water. For a long period, Viskan has been home to the Swedish textile industry. Human inhabitants in the region can still remember how the colour of the river could change daily, from red to yellow to blue. This glorious era created some troublesome shadow places, not only far away where the cotton grew in plantations but also within the watershed, who now embody some of Sweden’s most polluted spots. Fierce rains are expected in the future due to climate change, which will likely release the toxic substances buried in the bottom sediments. Large-scale remediation work is thus being planned. Like most other waterways in Europe, the river’s connectivity is poor, making it difficult, if not impossible, for salmon, trout, eel, and more to migrate the way they want and need to.

Skimmer Och Härvor / Shimmer and Entanglements

The “Natureculture Association Shimmer and Entanglements” (2022-) is a continuation of the art-led project Shimmer and Entanglements in the River Basin of Viskan (2018–2023, initiated and led by Thomas Laurien and Theo Ågren), that ended with the exhibition “Ingen Å Är en Ö” (“No River is an Island”). In both the project and the association, we have asked questions about situated relationships between humans and more-than-humans. We work process-based and transdisciplinary, and we combine artistic methods and approaches with posthumanist, ecofeminist, and nondualist perspectives and ambitions. In the fall of 2023, initiated by Kennet Öhlund, the association set up a species embassy in the city of Borås – “Arternas ambassad Viskan-Borås”. Through the ambassadors, we want to give the river and their inhabitants stronger voices and presence in the local debate and politics. One long-term goal in the urban context is to initiate and implement the removal or modification of existing regulating dams that imprison and stress local fish communities.