Water is life, but it can also destroy. The exhibition “On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin” will show current research projects of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) on the topic of water from October 10, 2025 in the Humboldt Labor. These will be flanked by artistic positions that deal with the element of water and vividly convey its versatility.

Water is ubiquitous – We drink it, bathe in it, experience it as rain, ice, or a river. And yet it remains contradictory, as it is both familiar and at the same time unpredictable. Sometimes there is too much of it, sometimes too little. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it’s lacking, sometimes it floods entire stretches of land.
As a result of climate change, growing cities, and global inequality, water has become a challenge. It cannot be controlled easily and raises questions about established practices. Water is not a passive object, but instead a dynamic element that demands new scientific perspectives and social negotiation. The On Water: WasserWissen in Berlin exhibition presents Berlin University Alliance (BUA) research projects that deal with water from a wide range of perspectives. They all aim to learn from its properties – such as its cycles, its adaptability, and its binding force – to find solutions for the future. The audio track provides deeper insights into the interplay between humans and water. In it, scientists explain why it makes sense to listen to water, as it knows more than we think.

Context
The present is characterized by too much or too little water: cycles and systems that have long been taken for granted are shifted, irritated and vulnerable.
The disruption of the aquatic balance also challenges science. The exhibition “On Water” shows that no science alone would be able to grasp the complexity of the interrelationships associated with it. It is often the interaction of the most diverse forms of knowledge that leads to an understanding and new solutions. This includes learning from each other, whether it be hard sciences or the exchange and discussion with people who have lived through traditions and experiences and bring their own form of knowledge. One of the great challenges of the future is to establish forms of dialog and cooperation that are suitable for meeting each other at eye level.

Structure of the exhibition
The exhibition develops its argument along lifeworld motifs of encounters with water: in the sea, on the coast, in the city, in the river, in the bath and so on. On all these levels, the aim is to balance out too much and too little water. The exhibition uses exemplary research projects to bring science to life and make it tangible. Researchers from the Berlin University Alliance, for example, deal with puddles in the city, with vortices in rivers and street fountains in Berlin, with the melting of glaciers in the Alps, the bathtub as a therapeutic place or life on and in rivers. The voices of the scientists can be heard in the form of an audio track in which they talk about their fascination with their research on and with water. This makes it possible to experience the diversity and complexity of water knowledge in Berlin. But not just limited to there: the exhibition also presents selected research projects that deal with solutions to water scarcity in Egypt and Kurdistan, taking local knowledge into account. In addition, a legal initiative will be shown that deals with the question of how the Spree could be given rights. Across the many research projects, there are signs of a changeing understanding of science that takes the dynamics and inherent logic of water seriously and also recognizes the limits of knowledge. Science is beginning to adapt to water.

Berlin University Alliance

“On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin“ is an exhibition in collaboration with the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). The Berlin University Alliance is a consortium of four institutions: the Freie Universität Berlin, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Technische Universität Berlin, and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Together they shape the knowledge and innovation space across disciplines and institutions, thereby strengthening the multidirectional exchange with politics, art, culture, and society.

The exhibition “On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin”, together with the program lines “On Water. Dialogues” and “On Water. Parcours,” forms a focal theme of the Berlin University Alliance. More information on the concept, events, and contact details for experts in Berlin water research can be found here.

Further information about the Humboldt Laboratory and the current exhibition can be found on the website of the Humboldt Lab. 

The opening program for “On Water. Water Knowledge in Berlin” can be found on the Humboldt Forum website.