ODI's Data as Culture Programme
Project curated by students on the RCA CCA course, in partnership with the ODI
WaterWays: an invitation to reimagine the ecology of the Regent’s Canal restores and regenerates broken relationships between humans and the living organisms of the Regent’s Canal.
At the core of the project is a commission produced collaboratively by the artist collectives AusBlau and Applied Logic entitled Canal Observatory. Canal Observatory is a digital game for environmental data collection that invites citizen scientists to observe the biodiversity of the Regents Canal and archive this information using canal emojis crafted by AusBlau. The tool reflects on who has agency to collect environmental data, how this data is used, how this is accessible as well as how it can improve our mental well being – allowing humans to speak to the more-than-humans of the Regent’s Canal and giving a voice to water.
Canal Observatory alongside interviews with specialists and co-habitants of the Regents Canal, an archive for future interactions and the public programming conducted by WaterWays are presented on a low emissions website designed by Applied Logic. The website minimises the energy consumption and CO2 emissions that result from navigating the internet by using system typefaces avoiding unnecessary HTTP requests. Furthermore it has purposely been designed in dark mode, reducing screen brightness and energy consumption.
WaterWays is curated by: Chiara Famengo, Fergus Wiltshire, Jiaqi Liu, Kylee Kim, Marjorier Ding, Yixiong Cui from the MA Curating Contemporary Art Programme as part of the Graduate Projects 2022, Royal College of Art in partnership with the Open Data Institute (ODI) Data as Culture.
May 2022
View the artwork
Artist profile: AusBlau
Artist profile: Applied Logic
