Water is the element we feel closest to us, lying at the origin of all cities. The water courses forming these journeys form an abandoned underground water network which dates back to the very foundation of Madrid by Emir Mohamed of Cordoba in the ninth century. The system was used for over a thousand years before being left behind upon the advent of the industrial revolution. The technique belongs to a form of water heritage originating in ancient Persia, known as "qanat", built using an infrastructure that takes advantage of underground aquifers instead of surface water, giving rise to a whole civilization of hidden waters. Muslim expansion throughout the Mediterranean basin was made possible in part by these qanat, which led to the formation of garden ecologies in arid landscapes and prospered as a result of a horticultural economy.

The exhibition analyzes this infrastructure in Madrid, not only from a technical perspective, but also by examining its cultural legacy, from the very origin of the network, when the Persian garden was invented, to its counterpart in Renaissance Spain. Through her interpretation of these invisible ruins, Kamalvand undertakes the reconquest of a forgotten heritage and deciphers this urban palimpsest in search of the indestructible traces of societies that have succeeded each other in time and will continue to do so.

In this present era of intense water scarcity and the need for alternative narratives, her work is positioned by presenting ancient knowledge and the myths that knowledge passes down, as pragmatic and conceptual tools used to address the contemporary challenges we face today.

The experience will be rounded off with guided tours of the “Casa del Agua” Interpretive Center in Cordoba, as well as other water infrastructures from that time period still existing in the province’s mountain range. Further information coming soon on this website.