Inaugural Exhibit at the Thought Barn | well · ness at The Commonwealth

On October 7, 2020, Sweet Water Foundation opened its inaugural exhibition in the Thought Barn, well · ness at The Commonwealth. The living exhibition explored the many facets and dimensions of water as the source of all life, and offered an emergent and participatory research opportunity for global citizens to contribute and engage. Since October 2020, the exhibit has engaged nearly 2,000 viewers and visitors from across the nation in-person and virtually. 

Read on to learn more about well · ness at The Commonwealth.

About the Exhibit | well · ness at The Commonwealth

In late September, the SWF team transformed the inside of the Thought Barn into a dynamic and vibrant exhibition entitled, well · ness at The Commonwealth.  The exhibit was organized into four quadrants - Water Value, Watershed and Infrastructure, Well, and Future Visions - each containing assemblage of art, artifacts, and history and offering visitors a variety of ways to learn, engage, participate, and contribute to the exhibit.  An overview of each quadrant is provided below:

• Quadrant One | Water Value challenges the audience's perspective of the true value of water and deepens their understanding of the many ways water is used in everyday life.  

• Quadrant Two | Watershed and Infrastructure highlights the often forgotten fact that Chicago is intimately connected to one the world’s largest freshwater sources, Lake Michigan. This quadrant educates visitors about both the Great Lakes watershed and the complicated Constructed Ecology of Absence of Chicago’s South Side and its impact on the City of Chicago’s water infrastructure. 

• Quadrant Three | Well Hand pumps are used around the world to move water or air from one place to another. In Quadrant 3, visitors are introduced to Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s Well and  to the parts and mechanics of pumps and wells. Beyond the practical application of Wells, Quadrant 3 also prompted visitors to share memories about their and is the introduction of our performance piece, a didactic point and its practical application. Where we collected a range of relationships to wells and water. 

• Quadrant Four | Future Visions expands the traditional definition of wellness from freedom from illness to a dynamic process of change and growth that spans physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental dimensions, and shows how SWF’s site, The Commonwealth, is a living demonstration of wellness and solutions that create a brighter future. 

At the center of the exhibit, was Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s Well 41°47’25”N - 87°37’38”W, which invited visitors to reconsider the reliability of our water access and the ways modern infrastructure disconnects us from resources. Most importantly, well · ness at The Commonwealth was rooted in place and practice. It was embedded within a neighborhood grappling with the most dramatic effects of the content displayed and juxtaposed with an active practice of practitioners engaged in solution-seeking and new ways-making. 

well · ness at The Commonwealth was captured virtually via an interactive Matterport Tour filmed by Virtual Vista with more in-depth learning activities and resources made available to audiences via an exhibit resource page developed by the SWF team.

A Living Exhibit | Participatory Research + Events

well · ness at The Commonwealth has engaged nearly 2,000 virtual and in-person visitors since its opening. Local residents, market-goers, educators, and students engaged in conversations and hands-on projects that explored each of the quadrants and bridged the disconnect between research and real-world solutions.

Beyond welcoming virtual and in-person visitors, SWF also hosted a panel discussion that was broadcast internationally as part of the US Water Alliance’s Imagine A Day Without Water on Wednesday, October 21. Panelists included Debra Shore of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Amy Stelly, an urban planner and artist from New Orleans, artist and MacArthur Fellow Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and SWF’s Co-founder and Executive Director, Emmanuel Pratt. Panelists discussed the sacredness and true value of water, shared their experiences, and inspired listeners to more intentionally steward water in their homes and communities. The panel discussion was broadcast internationally with support from Lumpen Radio and the Public Media Institute.  (To view the event, click here.)

Water Memory | Reconnecting Visitors to the Source of Life  

One of Sweet Water Foundation’s values is Sankofa - reaching back to gain wisdom and using that knowledge to make positive progress for the future.  well · ness at The Commonwealth gave visitors an opportunity to reflect on their memories of water and wells (both positive and negative) and invited them to share those memories so that the SWF community and beyond could learn from their experiences. 

Sweet Water Foundation Global Fellow, Britany Davis, served as the lead docent for the exhibit and captured recordings of visitors’ early and most memorable experiences with water. Neighbors, families, and lifelong Englewood residents, such as Erma, shed light on how “water can be weaponized”. One family shared their experience saying, ”They went from spraying us with water hoses to polluting our water or depriving us of water resources.” These are common experiences, especially for residents on the South and West sides of Chicago. 

Moving Forward | well · ness at The Commonwealth 

SWF is grateful to visitors, educators, students, artists, and neighbors who have contributed to well · ness at The Commonwealth. The exhibition is an initiative of Toward Common Cause. Toward Common Cause: Art, Social Change, and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40 is organized by the Smart Museum of Art in collaboration with exhibition, programmatic, and research partners across Chicago in 2021. It is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional support for Well is provided through a Mellon Collaborative Fellowship in Arts Practice and Scholarship at the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago. Exhibit contributors include Sweet Water Foundation Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Smart Museum of Art, and the Water Lab.

Although Sweet Water Foundation is no longer accepting in-person tours, individuals are still able to explore well · ness at The Commonwealth virtually.