Peewit - 11 Fountains

Lucy + Jorge Orta’s 'Peewit' is a permanent fountain located in the Dutch town of Sloten, one of the 11Fountains, a major contemporary art commission curated by Anna Tilroe for the European Capital of Culture Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018.

It comprises of a haphazard stack of buckets, jerry cans and water tubs and basins, implements you come across anywhere in the world. They refer to something that we in our society possess in abundance but that cannot be taken for granted in other parts of the world: water! Water is the source of all life. The water pours into and over the containers in a continuous stream, as if the stream were never going to dry up. Two children have climbed up the teetering tower to free the peewit from an old Frisian tradition: the gathering of peewit eggs in the spring. For the peewit has become an endangered species due to the rapid growth of intensive agricultural and cattle breeding technology. The peewit itself is carrying a golden key in its beak, the symbol of the city of Sloten and its closely-knit community.

• https://www.studio-orta.com/en/artwork/7...
• http://11fountains.nl/en/