South East Water partners with leading artist to reimagine the future of water
South East Water is partnering with the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) and Melbourne-based artist Yandell Walton with a creative residency titled ‘Re-cultivate’.
Across 3 months until October, Re-cultivate aims to simplify water challenges through artist-led storytelling and inspire public interest in water’s role in innovation and city life connected to Fishermans Bend.
Walton’s residency will help inform the development through immersive research, knowledge-sharing and expert collaboration around integrated water management. Plans are already underway for a full integrated water system at Fishermans Bend, which South East Water is contributing to, supporting the vision of “a leading example for environmental sustainability, liveability, connectivity, diversity and innovation.”
This includes a local water recycling plant mining sewage from the Hobsons Bay sewer and treating it to Class A recycled water that customers can use for non-drinking purposes.
“We’re excited to explore a new way to connect people with the work we do and the essential role of water in daily life,” said South East Water Fishermans Bend Program Manager Maarten van Herk.
“Art helps people connect with issues in unexpected ways. We hope this project sparks curiosity and deepen understanding around technology and water,” he said.
“This project has the potential to help people recognise and understand the role they play in the water cycle as producers and consumers.”
Chief Executive Officer of ANAT Melissa DeLaney said she’s excited about the possibilities that emerge when art, science and technology intersect.
“It’s an extraordinary time to be an artist, a scientist, a technologist. In a global ecology that’s genuinely interconnected, actions in our disciplines have multiple consequences in other sectors, communities, and societies.”
“I’m interested in how technology, ecology, and systems of care might converge to imagine new ways of sensing, relating, and co-creating with the nonhuman world,” said Walton.
FB Ideas, a non-profit organisation nurturing innovation and experimentation during the transformation of the Fishermans Bend precinct is supporting the three-month residency.
About Fishermans Bend
Fishermans Bend is Australia’s largest urban renewal project. By 2050, Fishermans Bend is expected to house around 80,000 people.
The 2055 vision for Fishermans Bend recognises the 485-hectare renewal area as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set new benchmarks for inner city urban renewal and best practice sustainability outcomes.
Learn about South East Water’s work at Fishermans Bend.
About Class A water
Class A water is the highest quality of recycled water. It's supplied to residential customers for non-drinking purposes such as toilet flushing, laundry, garden watering and car washing.
About the Artist - Yandell Walton
Yandell Walton (she/they) is a multi-award-winning artist whose practice spans immersive moving image, interactive installation, and sound. Her work is recognised for blurring the boundaries between physical and virtual space, and for exploring themes of impermanence in relation to environmental, social, and political change.
Walton’s installations have been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally in both gallery and public contexts, including ART+CLIMATE=CHANGE Festival, Rising (Melbourne), Dark Mofo (Hobart), VIVID (Sydney), Light City Festival (USA), Experimenta’s Speak to Me Biennial, and the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA).
For this project, Walton continues her investigation into more-than-human ecologies and speculative futures.
Image Credit: ‘Uprise’ by Yandell Walton, 4 channel projection installation, 2019. (Supplied by the artist)