Monday 22nd September 2025
9.35am—12pm
An urban infrastructure walk along the headwaters of the Alserbach. Join artist-researcher Lili Carr and environmental historian Friedrich Hauer for a morning excursion exploring the unique landscapes of these peri-urban streams—and sewers—and the life they support. All are welcome!
Meeting point: Marswiese bus stop (43A)
In English, with German translation.
Please note this walk is not barrier-free.
Is a stream alive? Is a sewer? The Vienna basin is shaped by a network of small streams that rise from springs in the foothills of the Alps that surround the city. Augmented by rainfall and runoff across the basin’s characteristically impermeable ground, these waters rise quickly in times of flood and drain, through a network of combined sewers, into the wastewater treatment plant at Simmering. These are many waters. Downstream they are treated waste. Upstream they are variously treated as aesthetic resource (feeding the ponds of the city’s parks), a force to be mastered (from flooding), an entity to be domesticated and cleaned up after (from deposited sediments), and a vital living place supporting diverse riverine livlihoods. But what if we approach these waters are intimately enmeshed with our own urban bodies? How might we treat them then?
Contact: info@hybridwaters.net