Water after All features works from the MCA Collection that speak to ecological and economical interventions in the environment.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is British filmmaker John Akomfrah’s three-screen film installation Vertigo Sea, a poetic and devastating meditation on the relationship of humans with the sea, referencing its history with the slave trade, migration, animal exploitation, and climate change. Combining archival footage from the BBC with re-creations of historical events, the film reflects on the greed and cruelty of the whaling industry as well as the history of slavery and colonization, exploring the beauty as well as the trauma of life related to the water. Water After All reflects on how humans pervade the earth’s most pristine and pure resources, musing on the relationship between culture and nature, and human history and time.