Becoming a Body of Water

For the Kortrijk Triennial in 2021 – Paradise, Sarah Westphal created Fôret océanique, an immersive video installation that reflected on Albert Dubosq's historical theatre sets depicting a surreal underwater world. It sparked an ever-growing interest in life below the water's surface. She wanted to know what it feels like for an insignificant human being to be part of this vast oceanic ecosystem, so she learned to dive and film underwater. Among other things, her camera explored the breathtaking underwater world in Japan. The video Westphal made there reveals hidden symbiotic relationships in the landscape. It connects us to an alternative way of 'being’, one in which we think and feel through the ocean. Westphal's video installation in the Texture museum's Crown Room immerses the viewer in a meditative landscape that joins ocean and land. The piece reflects on the relationship between animals, plants, the Earth, artificial materials, humans and other life forms. It explores the mutual relationships between the vegetal, aquatic, mineral, animal and human worlds in an attempt to transcend the contrast between land and sea that exists today.