The result is Water is coming, a complex, immersive installation – designed specifically for Photo Elysée – that draws us into a world of contrasts between the immensity of the waves and the artificial space of an aquarium where the water level slowly rises. This tension between the beauty of nature and climate anxiety is an ever-present theme in Rochat’s work.

Water is coming is a holistic, dreamlike experience that exists on the fringes of our reality. Inspired by the work of Masaru Emoto, who argued that human consciousness could affect the molecular structure of water, it features montages of footage filmed on and under water that are projected side by side and superimposed onto images printed on canvas and wallpaper.

Rochat has a long tradition of experimenting with media such as murals, polarized-film lightboxes, printed carpets and woven blankets. Through her artistic practice – which focuses on the materiality of images, relationships of scale, colors and transparency – the artist draws our gaze toward details in our environment such as the reflection of light, the shimmering effect produced by water or, indeed, the artifice of plastic plants.

Rochat’s images are set against a soundscape by the artist blackout, creating a sense of weightlessness. This multifaceted space, where the living world is transformed and sublimated, calls on us to step back and reflect on our experience of the world around us. Here, paradoxically, for all its apparent calm, Rochat’s art sends our visual receptors into overdrive, compelling us to reflect on the future of water and to reconnect with this life-giving element that is a fundamental part of us. 

Maya Rochat is a Swiss visual artist. She uses a variety of media, including photography, painting, video, installations and performance. Rochat is a graduate of the university of art and design Lausanne (Ecal, 2009) and the Geneva university of art and design (head – Genève, 2012). Her work has been shown in leading museums and galleries such as the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), the Tate Modern (London) and the Palais de Tokyo (Paris).