Lujia Zhu

Nations, Danube, Those who live nearby

Re-imagining the river-border landscape between Slovakia and Hungary


The focus of this project is the Danube river border between Slovakia and Hungary, and the Gabčikovo Dam located just within Slovak territory. In the past 200 years, complex geopolitical relationships and the demands of water engineering have dramatically altered this section of the river. Its course has been narrowed and straightened, wetlands deprived of water, and the very survival of the river is suppressed and neglected.  

The Gabčikovo Hydroelectric Dam, originally initiated by Czechoslovakia and Hungary, is in the end solely completed by the then newly formed Slovakia. The dam diverts 80% of the water from entering the Danube, which results in huge degradation of the river’s ecosystem, altered groundwater levels in both nations and heightened surface water levels in Bratislava –contributing to the city’s worst flood in 30 years in 2024.    

In an imagined scenario in which the flood became a turning point in how Slovakia and Hungary perceive the dam, the river and each other, the two nations recognise that the key to their own sustainable future is a healthy river, one with enough water to flow freely. The dam is stopped and the border is re-drawn. The traditional single-line boundary becomes a new region between the two nations – a territory claimed by the river itself, named ‘the River Republic’. 

The River Republic is realised through the concept of creation by subtraction, which includes removing the dam’s function, clearing poplar production forests and scaling back the maintenance of man-made objects. The result is a dynamic river landscape that is protected by both Slovakia and Hungary. The possible outcome is presented through a 20-metre-long section accompanied by six short stories that describe different spaces. The goal of this project is to remind us that the river is not merely a volume of water, but an entity of ebb and flow, wet and dry, on which a rich variety of life depends.  

Graduation date: 27 August 2025  
Graduation committee: Anna Maria Fink (mentor), Lada Hršak, Remco van der Togt  
Extra members: Thijs de Zeeuw, Ruwan Aluvihare