Waters of Mars

Waters of Mars
“Martsialnye Vody”, or “Waters of Mars”, located around 50 km outside of Petrozavodsk and founded in 1719, is the oldest spa in Russia. Its special treatments are very popular among local visitors and travellers alike, who go there to enjoy the healing powers of the sulfur-smelling mud, the cleansing properties of shungite water, and the calming scenery that surrounds the spa.
Beginning with a curiosity for this place of healing and for bodily sensations, as well as the frustration of not being able to travel and experience it first-hand, the artists Janna Thöle-Juul and Malin Lin Nordström have worked instead with the fantasy of this distant place, as if it were science fiction. They are asking the question – Could “Martian Waters”, as its name suggests, just as well have been on the planet Mars itself?
The artists invite visitors to play with these thoughts during Barents Spektakel 2022, to visit this version of Waters of Mars created inside the old Tourist Hotel in Kirkenes, and to write postcards based on their experience.
Waters of Mars emerged from the Guidebook to Norway/Russia project, and is connected to The Best Country in the World group exhibition in Terminal B.
With many thanks to Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel for developing the original fragrance for the installation.