Jenny Marketou (she/her) born in Athens, Greece is an artist whose polymorphous practice spans video, sculpture, floating installations, as well as social and collective experiments guided by situated and collaborative methodologies. Working in public aims to examine political, cultural, ecological, and economic dimensions of waterbodies and more then human species in the context of climate crisis which she calls “Wet Gatherings”.

Her projects have been supported through commissions and grants and have been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, such as Mystery 42, Futuring Waters by 2023 Eleusina Cultural Capital of Europe, The Hatchery, An Aquatic Lab (2023) for Vienna Art Week, Rivering (2022) for New York Harbour, the Biennial de Mediterranean 19, San Marino; documenta 14 Athens/Basel: Manifesta, European Biennial; Biennial of Seville, Spain; Biennial of Sao Paolo, Brazil; Biennial de Cartagena, Colombia; EMST, Athens, Greece; The High Line, New York; Museum Reina Sofia, Madrid; ZKM, Center for Media Arts, Karlsruhe; Museum Tinguely, Basel; Kumu Art Museum, Estonia; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; Queens Museum, New York; The New Museum, New York, among others.

Marketou holds a BA in English Literature and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Pratt Institute in New York. Marketou has contributed to the global discourse on contemporary art through talks, workshops, and publications such as Futuring Waters: A Speculative Manifesto form and from the Rights of Water (2023).

Meet the Artist: in Conversation with Liz Gardiner – Turning the Tide in Vienna – Seestadt

In the Belly of a Garden, 2024-2025

Sire Specific Public Sculpture

Artist: Jenny Marketou

Aspern Seestadt, Vienna

Sponsored by Turning the Tide

International Lab, Artit and WBA, Vienna

Special thanks to David Masse, artist

Bernd Herger, project manager

In the Belly of a Garden is my new site specific art work conceived as a sculptural environment which brings soil and water together and pays homage to the waterbody and the wetlands of the Danube River, the River of Vienna. It is anchored above the man-made lake in Aspern, Seestadt and is in dialogue with the park like landscape of the sleek artificial architecture of Seestadt, Europe’s largest urban development project in Vienna’s 22nd district (Donaustadt) built on an old airfield.

In the above setting In the Belly of a Garden repurposes the interior of an old wooden Zille vessel that I came across during my field research along the Danube river and transforms it into a provisional biophilic seed garden where special healing plants grow with qualities proven to naturally reduce, degrade, or remove contaminants from both soil and water and channels the tranquility of the water of the Aspern lake.

The Zille vessel according to its owner was built in 1905 and after the First World War it was used as a water minesweeper, echoing with the voices of the Austrian Army and the Fire Brigade, later, as a river ferry ,it carried the voices of people and objects crossing the Danube River.

The old handcrafted vessel stands as a symbol of the Anthropocene, water domination, extractive histories, marine craft and water culture. Gardens on the other hand are like poems, transformations and exchanges between myself and the surroundings that begin with an intimate touch of hands on earth as fingers shift through the soil and burry seeds.

Upcoming

Drawing Inspiration from the waterways of Danube River and Joseph Beuys’ work In Defence of Nature project as a model for direct environmental action my goal In the Belly of a Garden is to bring people together. I envision the project to have a physical presence throughout the spring, summer, fall and winter seasons, and specifically consider the full seasonal growing cycle from March 2025 – December 2025.

During this time, the project becomes a self organised ecosystem, an experimental laboratory through education, exhibitions and community -driven public programming, public participation, and performance which is activated by inviting practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds to meet, to collaborate, co-create.

I see those moments of transformation as an opportunity to reflect on our role as custodians of the garden emphasising our commitment to social and cultural change at times of environmental emergencies.

In the Belly of a Garden is to bring people together. I envision the project to have a physical presence throughout the spring, summer, fall and winter seasons, and specifically consider the full seasonal growing cycle from March 2025-December 2025.

During this time, the project becomes a self organised ecosystem, an experimental laboratory through education, exhibitions and community -driven public programming, public participation, and performance which is activated by inviting practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds to meet, to collaborate, co-create.

I see those moments of transformation as an opportunity to reflect on our role as custodians of the garden emphasising our commitment to social and cultural change at times of environmental emergencies.

Workshop

Becoming Water / The Untold Ocean

Let us reflect and take more care of each other and our environment.

October 2024, Aspern Seestadt, Vienna

Presented by Turning with the Tide, International Lab, ARTIT and wba,Vienna

With students from Mittelschule Sonnenallee

The hands on workshop emanated around the making of an installation of an imaginary ocean made out of paper, stones and fauna with the aim to make visible the untold stories of the life of the tiny oceanic creatures -Plankton- which apart from bacteria, planktonic organisms are the most abundant life form on Earth.

The Workshop started with a short presentation by Peter Filipczak biologist, about the zooplanktons and phytoplankton and the important role that Plankton ecosystems play in the sea waters carbon cycle.

They provide carbon to the food web through respiration and contribute to the ocean’s biomass when they die and also play a significant role in oxygen production. Over half of the ocean’s oxygen production is produced through phytoplankton photosynthesis.

As a result the young participants attuned themselves to various aspects of planktons aquatic Life. These roles guided their work flow with a manifestation from each students who was asked to imagine himself/herself as a plankton. Through graphic motifs and shots scripts on a long roll of poster paper they claim their rights as endangered species and expressed what they would like us human to do to keep clean waters.

In the process participants were asked to make hand-folded origami boats, out of a photocopy picture of a plankton. The paper boats were spread on the floor on the top of the imaginary paper ocean asking people to be careful and not to step on them as they cross the ocean.