Teo Ala-Ruona: Etiological Hydro Disruption Report (EHDR)

Tap water not only breaks the boundary between home and public space, but also the internal and external borders of the body. The audio play Etiological Hydro Disruption Report (EHDR) by Teo Ala-Ruona, originally from Kuopio, explores the intimate politics of drinking water.

Ideas of purity and naturalness often go hand in hand, while impurity and unnaturalness are easily associated with technologies and pollutants produced by petrochemical processes. Even though the concepts of natural and unnatural are impossible from an ecological perspective, they are still used as tools for the political classification of bodies.

EHDR connects the body, shaped by oily technologies, to the water cycle, where waste filters from lakes into groundwater and passes through purification processes before reaching our taps. The piece takes the listener on a watery journey, following a being floating in a plastic-seeping womb, out into a world where a multitude of socially normative definitions await it.

The work continues Ala-Ruona’s long-term artistic research into the connections between trans bodies and ecological discourses. He critically examines scientific claims that suggest petrochemical residues in water systems influence the origins of transgender identity.

Credits

Concept, text and speaker: Teo Ala-Ruona
Sound designer: Tuukka Haapakorpi
Artistic dialogue: Charlie Laban Trier
Curator of Waterways: Riikka Thitz

Production: ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival, C.U.T.S. (by Ruby Nilsson), i dolci, Teo Ala-Ruona
Residency: Bergen Kunsthall’s Live Studio
Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural Foudantion, Kone Foundation. The performance is part of Kuopio250 anniversary year programme and it has received production support of the anniversary year.

Vesireitit (Waterways)

Etiological Hydro Disruption Report (EHDR) is part of the multidisciplinary Vesireitit (Waterways) project, which features works exploring the mythical, ideological, and emotional dimensions of the waterways in eastern Finland. Vesireitit is curated by Riikka Thitz and produced by i dolci. More information about Vesireitit can be found here.