Wild Waters. Graphic Design by Sarp Sozdinler 19 Jun –
30 Aug 2026
Exhibition: Wild Waters
From 19 June to 30 August 2026, Framer Framed presents the Wild Waters: Dams and Deltas After Modernity, curated by Àngels Miralda. The exhibition examines water as both a life-sustaining resource and an instrument of political power, tracing how hydraulic infrastructures have shaped landscapes, histories and systems of environmental exploitation across different geographies.
The Dutch landscape is interwoven with water: a vast network of rivers, canals, aquifers and engineered waterways flowing above and beneath the ground. For centuries, inland water has been both a source of life and a persistent threat to Dutch society. In response, engineers constructed dikes, canals and storm surge barriers to protect land that lies below sea level. These infrastructures produced not only safety, but also a national mythology of mastery over a resource that doesn’t always flow in such abundance.
During the era of global modernisation, dams and river engineering came to symbolise technological progress and national development. The Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970 under Gamal Abdel Nasser, brought hydroelectric power to thousands of Egyptians and transformed the Nile into an emblem of postcolonial ambition. Yet such projects have often been accompanied by displacement, ecological damage and the erasure of histories. In neighbouring Libya, the canalisation of wells enabled Italian colonial authorities to control access to water as a mechanism of dispossession, while the later abandonment of infrastructure contributed to the catastrophic floods in Derna in 2023. In occupied Palestine, the Zionist project framed through the idea of “making the desert bloom” was predicated on the extraction and redirection of underground waterways tied to longstanding traditions, agricultural practices and oral histories.
Wild Waters traces the entanglements between water, colonial expansion and territorial exploitation through works by Jumana Emil Abboud, Suzette Bousema, Ewa Ciepielewska & Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Giovanni Giaretta, Adelita Husni-Bey, Anna Moreno, Suat Öğüt, Eunice Pais, Ashfika Rahman, Morteza Soorani, and Abdo Zin Eldin. Across their practices, ancient myths and contemporary struggles converge in the deltaic cultures of Bangladesh and the Ebro Delta, as well as along the Meuse, Vistula, Tajo and Tigris.
Floods and hydraulic interventions emerge as tools of political erasure: from the submerged Kurdish town of Hasankeyf, to the Shatt al-Arab where the Tigris meets the Karun, communities face pollution, ecological collapse, and forced displacement from lands long regarded as the cradle of agriculture. As the climate crisis intensifies, access to fresh water is increasingly threatened, while infrastructures continue to redirect and commodify this vital resource in service of political and economic power.
Participating Artists
Jumana Emil Abboud
Suzette Bousema
Ewa Ciepielewska & Agnieszka Brzeżańska
Giovanni Giaretta
Adelita Husni-Bey
Anna Moreno
Suat Öğüt
Eunice Pais
Ashfika Rahman
Morteza Soorani
Abdo Zin Eldin
Curator
Àngels Miralda
Opening
19 June 2026
Info & Credits
Opening times
19 June – 30 August 2026
Tue – Sun, 12:00-18:00
Location
Framer Framed
Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71
1093KS, Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Free entry, pay what you can.
Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; the Municipality of Amsterdam; and VriendenLoterij Fonds.
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Network
Suat Öğüt
Suzette Bousema
Abdo Zin Eldin
Jumana Emil Abboud
Giovanni Giaretta
Ewa Ciepielewska
Morteza Soorani
Agnieszka Brzeżańska
Eunice Pais
Ashfika Rahman
Anna Moreno
Adelita Husni-Bey
