Water and Memory brings together Žďár Chateau and Monastery, the Austrian collective Solektiv from St. Pölten and the American choreographer, curator and educator Sue Schroeder. Together they examine how water enters different professions, how it shapes life in the landscape, and how it can awaken the interest of students and the public in ecology, history and responsibility for the place where we live.
The project treats water as a living subject: the river, the mill race, the meadows and pools, the memory of the landscape and the stories of the people in it. It joins science, ecology and local knowledge to movement, dance and artistic experiment.
About the project
Water and Memory is a cross-border collaboration between the Czech Republic and Austria. On the Czech side it centres on Žďár nad Sázavou, the river Sázava and the surrounding Žďár landscape. On the Austrian side it builds on Solektiv’s work at the Mühlbach mill race of the river Traisen and in the Sonnenpark in St. Pölten.
The education department of Žďár Chateau approaches water as a subject that connects many areas of life: care for the landscape, ecology, history, geography, land management, art and education. The aim is to show that nature is not only a place of beauty and leisure but a living system, tended by a range of professions, that calls for knowledge, sensitivity and responsible decisions.
Working with students and young people is central to the project. It gives them the chance to meet experts, artists and people who devote themselves to the landscape, water and ecology, and it opens up space for their interests, their talent and their capacity to think about the place they live in.
What happens
The project combines talks, movement workshops, walks in the landscape, story collecting and participative performance.
It includes:
- Meetings with specialists in water, landscape and ecology
- Movement workshops led by Sue Schroeder
- Walks by the river and through the landscape
- Collecting stories of water, land and ancestors
- Work with students and local residents
- A participative performance at the KoresponDance festival
- Groundwork for a future educational programme for schools
The project brings together specialists in ecology, hydrogeology, forestry, education and contemporary dance, who look for new ways of speaking about water, the landscape and responsibility for the place we live in.
Sue Schroeder
Sue Schroeder is an American choreographer, teacher and curator whose work has long concerned the relationship between the body, movement, landscape and water. She joins dance, ecological thinking, listening to nature and community collaboration.
In Water and Memory she leads the workshops and mentors the movement experiment. Coming from a different cultural context, she brings a fresh view of places we tend to take for granted, and helps us see the landscape, the water and the memory of the region again through the body, through movement and through shared experience.
The movement strand is developed under her guidance by the dancers and choreographers Barbora Látalová, Katarína Brestovanská and Katarzyna Pastuszak.
Programme strands
Braiding Time, Memory and Water
A presentation and workshop on the relationship between water, rivers, memory and Sue Schroeder’s artistic practice, working with images and video alongside experiential practice in the landscape.
The River Speaks
A workshop on working „with“ nature rather than „about“ it. Through movement, attentiveness and deep listening, participants learn to perceive the landscape as a partner.
Collecting stories: of water, land and ancestors
A shared walk through the landscape and an exchange of stories – from the history and geography of a particular place, through its ecological challenges, to the personal memories of the people who live there.
Water and Memory at KoresponDance
A participative performance for the public joining dance, movement, the river and the stories gathered over the course of the project. Movement becomes a metaphor for the flow of water, the changing landscape and the memory of a place.
Who the project is for
The project is intended for students, teachers, local residents, specialists in ecology and the landscape, cultural workers and anyone interested in water, nature, sustainability and contemporary art.
It pays particular attention to young people and to generation Z, in whom it seeks to strengthen an active interest in the landscape, in public space and in the future of the region.
What the project brings
- A new way of looking at water, landscape and ecology
- Encounters between students, specialists, artists and local residents
- The experience of contemporary dance as a tool of understanding
- Space to share stories of the place we live in
- Groundwork for future educational programmes at Žďár Chateau
Main locations
Žďár nad Sázavou
The river Sázava, the town’s industrial zone, the surrounding landscape, meadows, pools and places bound up with water, work and the memory of the region.
St. Pölten
Solektiv’s base at the Mühlbach mill race of the river Traisen and in the Sonnenpark.
When and where
Tue–Sun 7–12 Apr 2026 | Žďár nad Sázavou
The first part of the project took place in Žďár nad Sázavou and centred on meetings with local specialists, students and residents. The programme included a talk with Sue Schroeder, movement workshops and walks through the landscape.
June 2026 | Žďár nad Sázavou
June was given over to preparing the movement experiment for the town of Žďár nad Sázavou. Sue Schroeder worked on it with the dancers and choreographers Barbora Látalová, Katarína Brestovanská and Katarzyna Pastuszak, together with students, specialists and local participants.
Thu 25 Jun 2026 | KoresponDance festival
The participative movement experiment Water and Memory was presented at the KoresponDance festival, created by Sue Schroeder with three dancers from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
October 2026 | St. Pölten
The closing part of the project takes place in Austria in collaboration with Solektiv. The programme builds on the experience from Žďár and adapts it to the local landscape, community and water features in St. Pölten.
