DEAD WATER // LIVING WATER

CONCEPT

DEAD WATER // LIVING WATER is a duology of poetry films that playfully and symbolically approach the concepts of the magical properties of water in Eastern Slavic mythology, combining performance, machinima, real-world footage, and AI-generated sequences. 

PROCESS:

DEAD WATER:

DEAD WATER is a partly AI-generated poetry film inspired by the magical practice of “dead water” in Eastern Slavic superstition: water used to wash the dead can be repurposed to curse someone. As is often the case, such superstition reflects a deeper fear of the magical potential attributed to women: they are never to be trusted with caring for the dead. The poem is recited by AI-generated voices; the faces are AI-optimized portraits of the artist, brought to life through animation. The soundscape, however, was composed by the artist herself. Dozens of video sequences of various bodies of water were collaged to create the visual rhythm.

LIVING WATER:

LIVING WATER is a poetry film created in collaboration with AI tools—part live-action film, part performative machinima—set in a 3D environment combining scanned real-world objects and phygital avatars. In Slavic mythology, “living water” is believed to resurrect the dead and must be retrieved from beyond the sea. In some variations, “dead water” heals the wounds of a corpse, while “living water” brings it back to life. The film was shot in the thermal spa resort of Methana, Greece, to play with the idea of thermal baths as embodiments of water’s healing power—and to meditate on what it means when a place once dedicated to healing loses its significance.