Guided tour in German Sign Language:
07.09.2022, 18 h with Christopher Moeller

The river is a key protagonist in the planetary water cycle—channeling earth’s circulation of water from mountain to brook, from ocean and to cloud. As a source of energy flows, fertility, and new life, the river is often understood as a powerful deity or person, holding historical, economical, socio-political, and emotional importance. In response to Portikus’ unique location on Frankfurt’s Main island, artist Asad Raza’s new work Diversion reflects on the many facets that rivers carry. In an evocative waterscape that spans the entire exhibition space, visitors encounter a continuous stream of the Main diverted through the gallery and flowing back to the current.

At the heart of Raza’s practice is the creation of experiences and dialogues. In Diversion, the audience is invited to interact with, dip in, and drink purified water from the river. As in many of the artist’s works, human exchange is an integral part of this piece. Custodians, who Raza cast on site, wander with the visitor, explaining scientific facts, telling stories, and carrying out daily rituals, such as monitoring the water quality, analyzing its development, filtering, and remineralizing quantities of it. By bringing together the processual and the relational, Raza emphasizes in this piece the interdependence of humans and their environment.

The notion of transformation—of knowledge and substance—is highlighted by various materials used in the gallery and by actions occurring throughout the exhibition. Inspired by the image of the river delta, all elements are connected like arteries and feeding on each other. Diversion forms an ecosystem, which the artist describes as a metabolism—the synergy of human, plant, and mineral life. Using common materials, such as newspapers, picnic tables, pipes and pitchers, Raza imagines an environment of collective memory, creating a place of gathering and contemplation. In this sense, the title, Diversion, alludes both the literal detour of the Main through Portikus and to the urgency of steering away from the course.

Diversion is accompanied by an artist newspaper edited by Asad Raza and Mathew Hale, with contributions by Liberty Adrien, Arhun Aksakal, Sophia Al-Maria, Shane Anderson, Carina Bukuts, Keren Cytter, Manthia Diawara, Emily Dickinson, Olivia Fairweather, Dan Graham, Rufus Hale, Catalina Imizcoz, Prem Krishnamurthy, Wolfram Lotz, Adéla Součková, Joe Stahlmann, Elsa Stanyer, Bones Tan Jones, and more. The newspaper is designed by Studio Pandan and co-published by X Artists’ Books. 

Curated by Liberty Adrien and Carina Bukuts

Head of Exhibition Production: Stefan Wieland
Architecture: Nermine Sadeeh
Pump System: Bernd Schneider

Diversion is made possible by the support from Hessische Kulturstiftung and Städelschule Portikus e.V.. Additional support is provided by Oase. 

Custodians in Diversion: Rand Elarabi, Nils Fock, Maria Guhr, Rabika Hussain, Mary Bom Kahama, Blaykyi Kenyah, Hanna Launikovich, Nelli Lorenson, Hemansingh Lutchmun, francisco m.v., Hilda Stammarnäs, Elsa Stanyer, Amina Szecsödy, Yuxiu Xiong

Install team: Rosario Aninat, Jiyoon Chung, Mahmoud Farrag,  Arnaud Ferron, Donghoon Gang, Samuel Georgy,  Paul Haas, Tizian Holzbach, Aerin Hong, Julian Krause, Sam Lasko, Tomás Maglione, Alex Thake

Poster design: Studio Pandan

Photography: Diana Pfammatter