H2O+HUmAnS is a distilled celebration of joy, blending water and human vitality into a vivid tableau of light and movement.
No faces, just bodies and gestures silhouetted against a shimmering wall of water, capturing moments of pure delight and silent, happy screams.
These images were taken between August 2009 and September 2010 at Jeppe Hein’s iconic Appearing Rooms fountain at The Southbank Centre in London—a space designed to surprise, engage, and connect its visitors.
This project marked the first step towards the idea of “Real Time Photography,” where moments are captured as they unfold, unposed and authentic.
It also laid the groundwork for the James Joyce performance, The Dead, where storytelling and photography merged to explore the ephemeral beauty of human experience.
H2O & Appearing Rooms
Jeppe Hein’s Appearing Rooms is more than a fountain; it’s an interactive installation where walls of water rise and fall unpredictably, creating ever-changing “rooms” that invite play, curiosity, and fleeting moments of togetherness.
This dynamic setting became the perfect stage for H2O+HUmAnS, transforming everyday interactions into a choreographed symphony of light, water, and movement.
The Book
If you’ve enjoyed exploring H2O+HUmAnS, you can now bring this series into your own space. The project is available as a fine art book, a carefully crafted collection of these joyful, water-soaked moments. It’s more than a book—it’s a window into the light, laughter, and energy that inspired it.
Find it on Blurb.com and let these images keep you company, one page at a time.
This video is a collaboration between photographer Luca and video artist Ed Nadalin, merging still imagery and recorded footage to explore the fluid interaction between humans and water at Jeppe Hein’s Appearing Rooms fountain in London’s Southbank.
Stemming from the H2O+Humans project, it examines how bodies move through ever-changing walls of water, transforming transient moments into an abstract, rhythmic flow of time and perception. The interplay of motion and stasis creates a dreamlike experience, where presence and disappearance become one.
