Water - Advantage and Nuisance

Douala is the Cameroonian megapolis. Because of its location within the Gulf of Guinea and within the mangrove swamp at the bottom of the estuary of the Wouri River, the city has a singular relationship with water. This part of the world was mapped in the 16th century by the Portuguese explorers under the name of "Rio dos Camaroes" because of the numerous shrimps on the rib. It was then alternately baptized "Cameroons River" and "Cameroons Town" by the English and “Kamerunstadt” by the Germans. In 1901 it was renamed Douala in reference to the natives.

The cosmogony of the people of Douala and their economy were formerly based on the element of water. Due to the urban settlement initiated at the end of the 19th century by the Germans who conceived the city as a port facility, the original connection with the water source has been lost. Although until this day, the harbour remains a major asset for the economic capital of Cameroon, the river and its geniuses are still very present in the rituals, particularly during Ngondo, a yearly celebration of the Douala people, which takes place in December at the edge of the Wouri.

Douala has the privilege of being an equatorial city, a city that receives vast amounts of water from precipitation and irrigation. What should be an advantage becomes a nuisance. Indeed, every year, during the monsoon season, the numerous neighbourhoods located in the lower areas become submerged in water. Paradoxically, there is a permanent deficiency of drinkable water. The public network of water distribution, badly maintained and often failing, serves only a minority of city dwellers. The greater majority, who live in the disadvantaged and very precarious neighborhoods, have to find alternative solutions to have access to water (wells, drillings, emergent natural sources). This causes serious public health problems, particularly due to the lack of a main drainage system which causes the the soil to become badly polluted.

Didier Schaub, artistic director of Doual'art

Diving in Deep

Ties Ten Bosch writes about his project Diving in Deep for SUD 2010 and Doual'art. He is invited to the SUD through a residency from the Dutch Fonds BKVB, hosted by Doual'art and ICU art projects.

 

Ties Ten Bosch:
"Since two weeks now I'm living in the Bloc du Source in Ndogpassi III. A more deprived area of Douala, but life is good here. The people are very hospitable and we feel very welcome here. I have to say we, because I'm living here with my assistant Lucie Grisey, a student from the School of Arts in Rennes, who will take care of documenting my work. Next to that she is also a great help in teaching me french, which after two weeks I must say, goes pretty well.
Last week, after a few days of mainly observing and getting to know the bloc, I started to work. My first little intervention was to name the house we are living in. Since it looks a bit like a swimming pool on the outside, I've decided to call it 'La Piscine', which I wrote on the facade of the house, using sand and water. A short performance which was witnessed by mostly kids.
Second thing to do was to create my working spot, my so called laboratory, which I named 'Le Plongeoir'. This means diving board, since it will be the place that I use to dive deep in to the life of the bloc.
The coming weeks I will do a lot of small interventions and performances, but the biggest project is constructing a new bridge. Together with the chief, some of his assistants and other people from the bloc, we will make a bridge big enough for cars. This is very important for the life in the bloc and people are therefor very enthusiastic. The first two weeks passed very quickly and a lot of work still needs to be done, but I think it's possible to create something good."

More about Ties' works and adventures, on his personal blog at www.tiestenbosch.com

Le Jardin Sonore de Bonamouti

“An elevated garden growing at the sound of falling water. A water recovery system, a garden contructed with the local biotope, a free social meeting space, an architecture to reflect on the element of water and its cultural and social resonances.” With this words French artist, Lucas Grandin, describes the project Le Jardin Sonore de Bonamouti made within the framework of the Salon Urbain de Douala (SUD), a tri-annual festival for public art designed and organized by Doual’art, center for contemporary art in Douala, Cameroon, in cooperation with ICU art projects.

At each triennial, a theme is selected to provide a framework for the artistic interventions and for this year’s SUD the guiding topic was ‘water’. Having grown from a couple of small villages on the banks of the Wouri river, Douala has always had an important relationship with water. Based on this, Grandin’s Jardin Sonore holds a direct relation to the city’s origins and present conditions : “this structure was made to reveal the why of the city of Douala: a water city where you can’t see or feel the water anywhere. Douala is a city where it rains in one hour what it rains in my country in one year, and where the rain is never recovered. ” Hence, through this structure the artist intends to offer the community a free meeting place in Bonamouti where people can regain conscience of the importance of water in their lives, “to give back Douala its right to water”. This is a space where people can go “to rest with the water’s melody, to smell the flowers, to see the Wouri river and its original mangrove, to feel the wind of nature... a new social area to talk, to plant, to listen, to re-create new inter-generational communication through the garden.”


Read more on Arts Collaboratory.org