Mag.art. MSc. Christina Gruber

Christina Gruber (*1987) is a Vienna-based freshwater ecologist, visual artist, and sturgeon caretaker. Water is of special interest to her as it is the connector between stories of different places and layers, from clouds to data centers. In the last years she lived along different large rivers from the Mississippi to the Danube and currently teaches at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the University of Art and Design Linz.

Pronouns: She/her

Black Gold – rivers, sturgeons, and dragons

My talk will navigate along with the topic of biodiversity loss due to the exploitation of river networks and their inhabitants. In this case, it is about the Danube River and the last remaining wild populations of sturgeons, migration barriers in the shape of dams, illegal fishing practices for caviar, wetlands and ecological restoration measures. Is it possible to re-establish healthy work ecologies by realizing, as David Abram proposes, that it is not we who are thinking, but rather the environment that is thinking through us?