Geschützt: Methods of care towards bodies of water

Dear Laura, could you walk us through your project and the core ideas that shaped its development?

A River for Life: The Río Cobre Archive continues my 2023 video art piece Guardiana del Agua, honoring the legacy of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres. With this current project, now situated in Panama, I wanted to imagine cooperative care work toward rivers and bodies of water. Blockchains and DAOs (Decentralized autonomous organizations) sounded promising for achieving this – offering transparent tools for solidarity and collective decision-making. Partnering with MOCAMDERCO (Movimiento Campesino en Defensa del Río Cobre), the project starts with an NFT gallery to fund the movement’s river defense, while envisioning a future DAO in which members vote directly on protecting their living relative, the Río Cobre.

What drew you to work with blockchain structures in this project, and what new possibilities did this medium open up for you?

I was drawn to blockchain structures because they offer transparent, decentralized tools for collective action outside traditional institutions. For this project, blockchain opens up new possibilities for envisioning DAOs where water protectors themselves can vote on decisions for their territory. Blockchain becomes a channel for solidarity, reciprocity, and community-led governance rooted in the worldview of the river as a living relative.

At what stage did blockchain become essential to your process, and were there moments when its use felt limiting, excessive, or conceptually challenging?

My connection to blockchain has been primarily through NFTs since the pandemic, and more recently through congresses, forums, hackathons, and readings – more as an imaginary tool for envisioning better futures than as an actual tool for making art. My work is fundamentally video-based. What I loved about this residency was the opportunity to integrate these elements together. Blockchain became essential for imagining direct solidarity with MOCAMDERCO. It was a bit conceptually challenging, but this limitation was mostly related to the short timeframe we had to produce the results.

How did the residency shape your practice? Could you reflect on what you learned and how exchanges with fellow participants influenced your work?

During this residency I bridged my video-based work with blockchain imaginaries and learned that technology doesn’t have to be fully realized to be meaningful and political. The exchange with the peer residents and crew was so rich and educational – it was wonderful to have the opportunity to know such interesting human beings.

What frictions, constraints, or questions were you aiming to explore or challenge through this project?

Constraints included the short residency timeframe and funding and my own limited technical expertise. Key questions I grappled with: How to introduce digital tools without imposing them? Can blockchain serve reciprocity rather than extraction?

How do you envision the trajectory of your project beyond the residency period?

Beyond the residency, I envision working in situ with the community – because this work is partly on the computer, but most of it is present in the territory. Being able to work in close collaboration with MOCAMDERCO on the ground is essential. I also hope to explore whether a future DAO truly serves their needs, sharing this model as a blueprint for other water defense movements worldwide.

What are your thoughts on the project’s long-term sustainability – both in technical terms and within a broader social or cultural context?

In technical terms, sustainability means keeping the platform simple, low-energy, and open-source, and ensure the website can function as a static archive even if the blockchain aspect becomes obsolete. In a broader social context, sustainability depends on trust and reciprocity. The project is meant to serve MOCAMDERCO’s needs for funding and visibility. Long-term, it may be a replicable model for river defense rooted in care, not extraction.

Barbara Cueto conducted this interview in collaboration with Sarah Donderer (Solitude Digital Cultures)