A new exhibition has come to Brighton, UK, called 'Silt,' which examines our cultural and physical relationship to water.

Silt was created by Nika Neelova, an emerging Russian artist based in London. For this new commission with Brighton Centre of Contemporary Arts, Neelova has collaborated with the Centre for Aquatic Environments at the University of Brighton focusing on strategies found in the natural world to adapt to water scarcity and the infrastructures humans have created throughout their history to manage water supply.

The exhibition is like entering subterranean world with fossil like shards strewn across the floor and hanging sculptures cast from ancient water pipes that look like sea creatures floating above your head. From the reconstruction of Roman Roundels, which were used to create aqueducts, to the replicas of ancient Greek pipes and casts from contemporary plumbing, the exhibition forms a surprisingly beautiful visual collage of plumbing structures used throughout history.

"I am passionate about things around human existence and very interesting in the connection between archaeology, geology and the human body," said Neelova. "Water links all of this - which is why it was so interesting to examine it for this show.

The title - Silt - speaks a lot about what this means. Silt is something that has begun somewhere really far away and then got carried through time and space, with water as the connector between it all."

Neelova told Make Water Famous that she recovered many of the pipes from demolition sites, with some hailing from as far back as the Victorian era.

"I have done a lot of research on how water was managed throughout history - starting in ancient Greece and Rome and coming up to contemporary architecture and it's fascinating how many structures have been devised and invented and constructed in order to carry water from its source to people," she said.

"I was very interested in the fact that plumbing is such an intrinsic part of architecture but it is buried underground and invisible - yet it connects everything in a way that nothing else does. Water is the connecting element throughout all of it."

Over the last 12 months, the artist has been working in collaboration with Brighton Centre for Contemporary Arts and academics at the University of Brighton on her new work - drawing inspiration from diverse sources including archaeology, ethnography, literature, natural sciences and ecology.

Alongside Neelova’s works, the exhibition also features Columbian artist Carolina Caceydo’s film Land of Friends (2014), which details the impact of the El Quimbo Hydroelectric Project, Colombia on the indigenous peoples who rely on the river and its tributaries for their physical, social and spiritual wellbeing. At the front of the gallery space is an installation by UK-based American artist Rachael Champion which continues the theme of the interaction between humans and geology.

When viewed alongside Neelova’s works these pieces really start to prompt conversations about the cultural value of our natural resources and the part they play in service to society.

The exhibition runs until December 22 2021. For more information, please visit: Brighton CCA — Nika Neelova