Sacred Ecohydrology - Nischal Khadka und Merel Maan Galama

Nischal Khadka grew up in eastern Nepal, near the Saptakoshi (“seven rivers”), one of the world’s most unpredictable river systems, which continually reshapes the landscape and carries ecological, spiritual, and Indigenous stories within its waters. Merel Maan Galama grew up in the Netherlands, where she observed how water is channeled through man-made landscapes that have been shaped by centuries of flooding. Against this backdrop, the work of Khadka and Galama delves deeply into diverse aquatic landscapes, juxtaposing the river cosmologies of the Himalayas with the regulated water systems of the Netherlands.

The field recordings collected by the duo—featuring ditches, canals, rivers, floodplains, pumps, locks, and submerged environments—reveal how listening can draw attention to the tensions between coexistence and control. In the course of their field research, a water creature emerged—condemned as an intruder, characterized as aggressive, and branded as destructive. Its presence is associated with severe ecological damage. However, the work approaches these attributions from the creature’s imagined perspective and navigates the space between fact and fiction to explore water as a living, dynamic relationship.

*Sacred Ecohydrology*is a collective listening experience in which water is more than just a resource. By combining ambient sounds, stories, and live acoustic interventions with Himalayan gongs and cymbals, the artists seek to understand water as a collaborative partner—a vessel of memories, stories, and forms of knowledge that ceaselessly transcend the systems designed to control it.

Safi Faye Hall

Free admission