RIVERS OF DEMOCRACY

An interactive card deck mapping northern french rivers and plants, animals, mythical creatures, field recordings and local testimonies as water health indicators.

Rivers, canals, and watery bodies between Douai and Lille, France

exhibited at Fluctuations Festival, July 2026

IN COLLABORATION WITH

exhibited at Fluctuations Festival, July 2026

Organized and funded by European Alternatives

Fluctuations Festival

Hosted by Urban Boat

7 independant artists

All photography credits to Daniela Beltran

TOOLBOX

Local written testimonies

Cartography

Field and underwater recording equipment

Deep listening exercises

Site-specific research on multi-disciplinary bio indicators of the bodies of water

300g glossy paper

Adobe Suite

Water samples correlating to the gps locations on the route of the cartography

Photo documentation

Synthesized musical pieces responding to collective sound scores

Digital illustration work

This set of 16 double-sided cards is both a collectively made archive and an interactive tool. It invites people not only to learn about the rivers and canals of northern France, but also to listen, interpret, respond, and contribute new narratives of their own. The cards were created by seven artists from different disciplines and countries during the Rivers of Democracy residency aboard the Urban Boat, while travelling from Douai to Lille. Along the route we gathered stories, water samples, ecological knowledge, and sounds.

This work is a response to the invitation from European Alternatives for us to connect nature with politics. It starts with the important premise: rivers already participate in our societies. What can we learn from the histories of extraction and resistance they carry? What they teach us in the ways that they connect and divide territories?

For a week in July of 2026, we were generously hosted to sleep, eat, and share crafts on the Urban Boat. We got aboard in Douai and sailed to Lille, where the boat became the main stage for the Fluctuations Festival. There, we exhibited our work, and invited locals to contribute.They were given the prompt "If you could say or ask something to the local rivers, what would it be?". As they listened to our field recordings they wrote their responses, completing our first card deck.