waterlab: interactive symposium

Floating Land, in association with the Remnant Emergency Artlab, QUT and the Australia Council for the Arts, presents a highly engaging laboratory-style symposium. Over two days the Water Lab brings together leading thinkers, scientists, artists, designers, sociologists and participants to deeply consider a spectrum of water issues. The Lab will collectively explore the development of new creative-cultural-ecological hybrids and initiatives to flow into the future. The Water Lab keynote speakers include scientist Ramon Guardans, academic Dr Claudia Baldwin and interdisciplinary artist Dr Ros Bandt. The event is facilitated by creative environmentalist Ilka Nelson and environmental engineer/media artist Tega Brain.

We are pleased to announce that WaterLab is a free event thanks to the support of our sponsors. Places are limited and registration requires answering some simple questions. Please fill out the expression of interest here to receive your application form via email.

Program Highlights

WaterLab Saturday 4th June

Session 1: 9 – 11:30am

Welcome to the Country: Lyndon Davis

Opening Keynote: Dr Claudia Baldwin

Visions for conceptualising, managing and governing water in a sustainable future

Panel 1: Watershed

Panelists including Dr Tamsin Kerr, Ben McMullen and Alyssa Vass will join Dr Claudia Baldwin and explore how water could connect and divide us in reimagining a future on a spectrum between water as power and water as commons

Session 2: 12:30 – 2:00pm

Keynote 2: Ramon Guardans

The Bang & the Echo: Intermittency and asymmetry after impact time

Panel 2: Headwaters & Ripples

Ramon Guardans discusses historical examples & future scenarios of shifting paradigms in local and global water management. Joined by speakers including Barbara Carseldine, Christine Ballinger and Lyndon Davis, who will address ideas of scale & interconnectedness as it applies to water

Session 3: 2:15-4pm

Keynote 3: Dr Ros Bandt

Water Works: Human attitudes to water storage articulated through sound, From the Australian water tank to the Basilica cistern in Istanbul, Turkey

Panel 3: Confluence

Panelists explore the ‘shoreline’ as a metaphor of connection to critique if creative practice/knowledge has the necessary elements to activate/mediate between thinking & doing – especially in context of our water futures. Ros Bandt is joined by Michael O’Dwyer, Krishna Nahow-Ryall & Jo Titto

Catchment

A participatory group exercise to capture the wellspring of ideas while they are still afloat

WaterLab Sunday 5th June

Session 4: 9am-12:15pm 

Reading the Waters

Day 2 starts by submerging participants in a creative speed dating exercise generating a torrent of responses to critical water questions with a creative twist

Creating Life

A Pecha Kuchu style session showcasing current creative projects & innovative technologies addressing environmental water matters locally and globally. The session features projects such as PlaceStories and WaterWheel with digital presentations from around the Globe

Elemental - People from Place

Exploring Indigenous and Generational knowledge systems and how political & corporate attempts to govern water affect the cultural and ritual practices of water in communities. Speakers include Hartono, Barmah-Millewa, Krishna Nahow-Ryall and Jo Titto

Session 5: 1:15-5pm

Runoff

Designed as a sequence of interactive exercises, this session is an opportunity and a platform for participants to speak up and contribute their ideas. We’ll collaborate in determining how to best harness the energy surging from all the WATER LAB conversations, ideas & visions into actions that explore new paradigms for our collective water future

Words from the Deep

The 10 days of Floating Land has been a river of experiences. As we near the river mouth, we want to mark this shared journey with a culturally rich offering. It is said that storytelling comes from the same time that creation began and so it is befitting to end WATER LAB with cultural water stories from the beginning with Ilka Blue Nelson, Leah Barclay & Jo Tito

Please fill out the expression of interest here to receive your application form via email