This workshop is an invitation to draw water—first in the different forms it takes as it travels across the planet (seas, rivers, streams, springs, etc.), and then by drawing the water of the Matanza Riachuelo River. To do this, we will think of water moving through time: polluted in the past, recovering in the present, and flowing clean in a future yet to be built. A narrated script, accompanied by different pieces of music, invites participants to draw the shapes of water, its movements, and the life forms that emerge from it.
This artistic-pedagogical proposal, based on collective drawing, approaches drawing as an open and communal practice. Drawing is conceived as a shared language, a process that must be built together. Always starting from play, the proposal focuses on dialogue, the creation of guidelines for group improvisation, and the concept of reciprocity—ensuring that all voices are part of the composition. Participants generate codes among themselves, discovering common themes and aesthetics through the combination of their individual contributions.
Drawing Water was developed within the cultural activities of Acumar (Matanza Riachuelo Basin Authority). In 2020, it was conducted virtually to celebrate Children's Day, and since 2021, it has been held in person with communities from the Matanza Riachuelo Basin. Each time it takes place, the script is adapted to the community it engages with, following a preliminary listening process to understand their relationship with water.
The workshops were presented in 2024 as part of COP 16 (United Nations Conference on Biodiversity) in Cali, Colombia, within the programming of Banco de la República. They were developed through a dialogue between Colombia and Argentina, featuring a video mapping with live drawing in collaboration with the Cali-based artist collective Proyecto Monos.
The Drawing Water workshop is part of Uma, an artistic, technological, and educational project about water. Uma celebrates water as essence, mystery, and the origin of life, but it also serves as an alert about environmental threats and a call to recognize that we share the same paths—Uma’s fate will be our fate.
As part of the Uma project, this workshop is also linked to the recently approved research project: "Water: Engaging in Ecological Challenges through Scientific Information and the Arts. An Educational and Technological Development Project to Measure Experiences and Engage Youth through Collaborative Drawing."
The research team leading this project consists of scholars from the National University of the Arts (UNA, Open Drawing Team) and the National University of Quilmes (UNQ). Both groups collaborate with secondary school students from the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), bridging two key areas: science communication and collaborative artistic production through real-time animated drawing platforms.
