Within the European project Turning the Tide, this article by Bernd Herger explores how artist Daniil Sukhov approached water not through images or objects, but through taste, perception, and film—transforming an everyday resource into a sensory and political experience.
Turning the Tide in Vienna: Water as Experience
As part of Turning the Tide, Daniil Sukhov focused on a question that is rarely asked in everyday life: how do we perceive water?
In Vienna, where high-quality drinking water is constantly available, water is often taken for granted. Sukhov’s work challenges this perception by shifting attention from availability to awareness.
Rather than presenting water as a scientific issue, his work translates it into direct experience. Within Turning the Tide, this approach opens a new dimension—one that connects the body, the senses, and environmental reflection.
The Turning the Tide Artwork: Water Tastings as Performance
At the center of Sukhov’s work were participatory water tastings. Participants were invited to taste different types of water—from Vienna’s alpine spring water to other sources—and reflect on their differences.
What initially seemed like a simple activity quickly became a complex experience.
Participants compared taste, texture, and perception. They discussed where water comes from, how it is treated, and why some water is valued differently than others. The tasting became a space of exchange, where personal impressions led to broader questions about infrastructure, inequality, and sustainability.
These performances were not about identifying the “best” water. Instead, they revealed how subjective perception is—and how strongly it is shaped by context, expectation, and knowledge.
Within Turning the Tide, the act of tasting became a method of understanding.
From Performance to Film: “Milk Water”
Sukhov extended his artistic approach into film with the short film Milk Water, which emerged as part of the project.
The film combines narrative elements with the themes explored in the performances. It follows a character navigating a world in which water becomes both a sensory experience and a decisive factor.
Rather than documenting the tastings directly, Milk Water translates the underlying ideas into a cinematic form. It explores the tension between necessity and desire, between everyday consumption and deeper awareness.
Through this shift from live performance to film, Turning the Tide expands from a local participatory format into a broader, shareable artistic statement.
Why This Work Matters in Turning the Tide
The impact of Sukhov’s work lies in its simplicity.
Everyone drinks water. But very few people think about it.
By focusing on taste, the project creates an immediate entry point. Participants do not need prior knowledge—they begin with their own perception. From there, the work opens into larger questions about access, value, and responsibility.
Within Turning the Tide, this approach is particularly effective because it connects individual experience with global issues.
Turning the Tide as a Sensory and Social Process
Participation was central to the project. Workshops and public formats brought together people with very different relationships to water.
Some participants approached the tasting analytically, others intuitively. The exchange between these perspectives became part of the artwork itself.
The project also highlighted how perception is shaped by context. The same water can be experienced differently depending on how it is presented, described, or framed.
Through this, Turning the Tide reveals not only environmental conditions, but also cultural and social dimensions of water.
Conclusion: What Turning the Tide Makes Visible Through Taste
Can we taste the value of water?
Daniil Sukhov’s work suggests that we can.
By transforming water into a sensory experience, Turning the Tide makes visible what is usually invisible: the value we assign to a resource that sustains life.
The project shows that awareness does not always begin with information.
Sometimes, it begins with a single sip.
Turning the Tide – Können wir den Wert von Wasser schmecken? Daniil Sukhov
Der folgende Artikel ist auch auf Englisch verfügbar.
Im Rahmen des europäischen Projekts Turning the Tide zeigt dieser von Bernd Herger verfasste Beitrag, wie Daniil Sukhov Wasser nicht als Objekt, sondern als sinnliche Erfahrung erfahrbar macht – durch Verkostungen, Performances und Film.
Turning the Tide in Wien: Wasser als Erfahrung
Im Kontext von Turning the Tide stellt Daniil Sukhov eine einfache, aber grundlegende Frage: Wie nehmen wir Wasser wahr?
In Wien ist sauberes Trinkwasser selbstverständlich. Genau hier setzt seine Arbeit an und verschiebt den Fokus von Verfügbarkeit hin zu Bewusstsein.
Das Kunstwerk im Rahmen von Turning the Tide: Wasserverkostung als Performance
Im Zentrum standen partizipative Wasserverkostungen. Teilnehmer:innen probierten unterschiedliche Wasserquellen und tauschten ihre Eindrücke aus.
Was zunächst einfach wirkt, entwickelte sich schnell zu einer vielschichtigen Erfahrung.
Geschmack wurde zum Ausgangspunkt für Gespräche über Herkunft, Qualität und Wert von Wasser. Die Performance öffnete einen Raum, in dem persönliche Wahrnehmung auf gesellschaftliche Fragen trifft.
Vom Erlebnis zum Film: „Milk Water“
Die Arbeit wurde durch den Kurzfilm Milk Water erweitert.
Der Film übersetzt die Themen der Performance in eine erzählerische Form und macht die Auseinandersetzung mit Wasser auch über den unmittelbaren Moment hinaus erfahrbar.
Warum diese Arbeit im Rahmen von Turning the Tide relevant ist
Die Stärke des Projekts liegt in seiner Zugänglichkeit.
Jede:r kann teilnehmen, jede:r kann schmecken. Dadurch entsteht ein unmittelbarer Zugang zu einem komplexen Thema.
Turning the Tide als sinnlicher Prozess
Die Workshops zeigten, wie unterschiedlich Wahrnehmung sein kann. Gleichzeitig wurde deutlich, wie stark diese Wahrnehmung von Kontext und Wissen geprägt ist.
Fazit: Was Turning the Tide sichtbar macht
Können wir den Wert von Wasser schmecken?
Die Arbeit von Daniil Sukhov zeigt, dass dies möglich ist.
Turning the Tide macht deutlich, dass Bewusstsein oft nicht mit Wissen beginnt – sondern mit Erfahrung.
Und manchmal beginnt diese Erfahrung mit einem Schluck Wasser.
