Water Diffractions: The Invisible Fabric of the City, is an artistic, collaborative and technologically mediated process that seeks to make visible the invisible water infrastructures in Alicante and activate a critical ecological awareness and a cultural connection with the territory.
A central axis of the project is the creative and meaningful use of the open data that Aguas de Alicante makes available to citizens. These data sets (consumption, quality, seasonality, incidents, etc.) will be the base material for the development of Water Diffractions through a collaborative workshop: not as figures in a report, but as a language to explore the city and translate information into visual, narrative and sensitive forms.
The workshop, which has the collaboration of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante (MACA), will be led by Daniel G. Andújar (visual artist), with an internationally recognized trajectory in the field of contemporary art, digital culture and critical practices linked to technology and citizenship. From that experience, Water Diffractions proposes to transform the technical view of water into a shared aesthetic experience, demonstrating that digitalization can also be a form of care, a sensitive pedagogy, a poetic technology. In this intersection between art, science and citizenship, water ceases to be data or a resource to become a common language, a liquid archive of urban life.
Who is it aimed at?
The call is open to artists, students, researchers, activists, people interested in urban ecology, digital culture, open data or collaborative practices.
No prior technical knowledge is required: we seek curiosity, desire to think collectively and willingness to get involved in the process.
What will we do?
During three days (March 16, 17 and 18) we will work with:
- Open data from the urban water cycle offered by Aguas de Alicante, as material for exploration and creation.
- Urban drifts and situated reading of the territory (traces, devices, signs of water).
- Analog and digital tools (visualization, generative patterns, data writing, etc.), including a critical and poetic use of contemporary technologies.
- Design of materials that will feed a collective installation and a living archive of the project.
This is the first workshop of a two-stage process.
How to participate?
To register, send a brief letter of motivation (max. 1 page) explaining why you are interested in participating and what you would like to contribute, and your contact details (name, phone, email and brief bio if you wish).
You can send your participation request from February 10 to March 10.
Send your participation request
Within the framework of the Water Digitalization PERTE
The Water Digitalization PERTE (Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation) in which the company is immersed is the framework and engine for the development of "Water Diffractions", validating the use of art and technology as legitimate tools to improve water management and citizens' relationship with their infrastructures. Thus, it explicitly aligns with several of its axes. On one hand, with digitalization and data; the project promotes the use of open data, transforming complex technical information into accessible cultural knowledge through AI and digital tools. On the other hand, with efficiency and sustainability, functioning as an environmental education tool; by visualizing consumption, leaks (incidents) and water quality, it seeks to raise citizens' awareness about responsible and efficient use of the resource. Also, with transparency and governance; the PERTE requires opening management to citizens and this initiative facilitates public understanding of how water is managed, promoting accountability and free access to information. And, finally, with social innovation, highlighting that digitalization is not only technical and extends its reach to the cultural and participatory sphere.
