The course of the Dortmund–Ems Canal is torn out of the map and transformed into an animal-like being that pumps water through its body. This creature is encased in dry, cracked clay forms, from which clay-shaped aquatic plants and quagga mussels protrude—these too remain rigid and embedded in the fixed form of the canal.

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It carries transport ships weighing tons, passes through cities, and even spans other rivers. Within this rigid course, the water flows in a controlled manner through plastic containers and hoses, so that the clay does not come into direct contact with the water. The clay’s potential for transformation is deliberately suppressed, and the dynamics of the water flow remain strictly regulated.

 

The work makes visible the tension between rigid infrastructure and organic potential. While the canal’s outer form is fixed and subject to human control, the presence of the clay figures, aquatic plants, and the constant murmur of flowing water points to an inner life. The canal thus appears as a living organism whose body is rigid but whose internal system symbolically pulsates—a constellation that simultaneously reveals planning, control, and constrained organic potential.