Myths & Sagas

In this project, we are investigating how these meanings take shape, and which narratives and folk tales have become dominant. At the same time, we are exploring how alternative and new narratives can make space for other ways of looking at, and dealing with, water.

Identification: relationships between water and people in folk tales

Are you interested in the project? Then read on. Would you like to know more about the Waterside Stories phone? Click here.

Water plays different roles in folk tales: it is a threat, a resource, a yardstick for behaviour or a magical power. These tales convey values and norms, and they affect how human-water relationships are seen in ways that are thought to be natural.

Over time, some of these folk tales, and therefore their significance, have become dominant and deeply embedded in how we think about, and interact with, water. While other stories, and therefore attitudes towards water, have faded into the background.

In this first step (identification), we are mapping out how water is depicted in familiar folk tales and which ways of thinking about, and dealing with, water are confirmed or pushed into the background.

Rethinking and design: which story do you want to tell?

In the second step (rethinking), we create space for other ways of thinking about water. Using an interactive system (the Waterside Stories phone), we are collecting stories about water from the general public in addition to existing and historical stories.

We are also organising co-creation sessions with artists, water professionals and other stakeholders.
We are looking together at the values and relationships with water that emerge here, and the new meanings we want to explore.

In the third step (design), these insights will be translated into new stories that showcase, and make tangible, other ways of working with water.

Future relationships between people and water

The project will result in an overview of the meanings of water in the dominant narrative, as well as a set of newly developed narratives that make space for other human-water relationships.

A fourth step (interpretation) will further elaborate how these stories collectively make up a polyphonic picture of water in which different perspectives can co-exist and complement one another. This polyphony provides space to question dominant ways of thinking and contributes to an exploration of more just and future-resilient relationships between people and water.