The Power of Water is a long-term research project building a transcultural and transdisciplinary network and learning community of artists, researchers, children’s museums, youth programs and climate organizations conducting participatory research with young people (age 8-15) in the Netherlands, Suriname and Curaçao to explore the role of artistic methods to investigate the relationship between (oceanic) climate change and colonialism. 

The lead artist of The Power of Water is the Dutch-Surinamese spoken word artist and theatre maker Dorothy Blokland who is also a graduate of the DAS Creative Producing Masters, supervised by Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, with researcher Joy Brandsma in collaboration with a growing network of partners, including: Villa Zapakara in Suriname, Children’s Museum Curaçao, The Beach in Amsterdam Nieuw West and Noordje in Amsterdam Noord. 

The Power of Water is part of the larger research program Climate Imaginaries which has produced major public outputs such the Climate Imaginaries Festival in April 2024.

This portfolio contains 3 outputs from The Power of Water:

• After-movies #1 and #2: Two short films documenting the workshops held with young people in Amsterdam Noord (June 2024) and Suriname (August 2024) to share the research in the context of public talks and education by the research team. The after-movies are also used as a tool within the research process itself – for example, young people at OnStage Performing Arts in Suriname were shown After-movie #1 as a source material within the devising process of creating their performance. 

• Exhibition and public workshops: A travelling exhibition of photographs taken by young people in Suriname and 2 sound pieces by Dorothy Blokland and Joy Brandsma which has been hosted and open to the public at various locations in the Netherlands, including: Warming Up festival, Amsterdam (November 2023 and 2024); Unimaginable: Clarion Calls from Rising Seas at Bradwolff Projects, Amsterdam (April 2024); and Imagination in Transitions, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam (January 2025). Audiences can look at the photographs while listening to the sound pieces on headphones, with wall texts providing further information about the context and process through which they were made. On each occasion, the exhibition has been accompanied by a public workshop led by Blokland where wider publics can experience the creative methods that Blokland uses to engage the young people in exploring their relationships to water in the context of climate change and colonialism. 

See documentation below and listen to the sound pieces in the portfolio. 

Dorothy Blokland’s sound piece is in Dutch. An English translation of the text is provided in the portfolio.

Public workshop and exhibition @ Climate Imaginaries Festival, Bradwolff Projects and VoxPop gallery, Amsterdam (April 2024)