Water Carry (v.1 Bow River, Alberta)
Scoop water from the Bow River with cupped hands. Carry the water in your hands as far as possible from the river. Stop when there is no water left in your hands.
Water Carry (v.2 Bow River, Alberta)
Water, once known as the Bow River, makes cups of human hands. Finds gaps between fingers. Trickles through. Marks riverside boulders, shingle, hard-baked earth, concrete sidewalks and roads. Becomes vapour in the heat of the sun.
Water Carry (generic)
Scoop water from a river or water source with bare, cupped hands. Carry the water in your hands as far as possible form the river or water source. Stop when there is no water left in your hands.
Water Carry (v.3 Quintana and La Concepción, Madrid)
Scoop water from a fountain with cupped hands. (Remember to ask for permission and to thank the fountain.) Carry the water in your hands as far as possible from the fountain. Stop when there is no water left in your hands.
Water Borrow (v.1 Bow River, Alberta)
Visit as many of the tributaries of the Bow River as possible. Ask each tributary you visit for permission to borrow some water. If you feel permission has been granted, carefully take a pailful of water, noting the date, time, weather conditions, topographical features and water quality. Remember to thank the river or creek for the water.
Mix Your Own Bow (v.1 Bow River, Alberta)
Estimate how much water each tributary of the Bow river you visited might contribute to the Bow River at Calgary, as a percentage. Use data from the agencies: Environment Alberta and Environment Canada. Using a water dropper and specially calibrated measuring equipment, take an amount of water corresponding to each percentage from the pails containing water borrowed from the Bow River tributaries. Mix these in a labelled sample bottle. Top up the mixture to 100% with water borrowed from the Bow River. Return the mixed water from the sample bottle to the Bow River.
Water Borrow (v.2 Quinta de Torre Arias, Madrid)
Visit the Fuente de Minaya, one of the last natural springs in Madrid. Ask the spring for permission to borrow some water. If you feel permission has been granted, carefully take some water. Remember to thank the spring.
Water Borrow (generic)
Visit a body of water. This might be a river, lake, puddle, drain or domestic water system. Ask the body of water for permission to borrow some water. If you feel permission has been granted, carefully take some water. Remember to thank the body of water.
Where Water Goes (Pours and Puddles) (v.1 Bow River, Alberta)
Borrow a jam jar of water from the Bow River. (Remember to ask for permission and to thank the river.) Choose a spot of ground, road or sidewalk. Pour a small amount of water onto the ground, road or sidewalk. Observe where the water goes. Try this action on different types of surface, at different times of day and in different weather conditions.
Where Water Goes (Pour) (Madrid)
Using old maps of Madrid, find a place where you think a river or creek might once have flowed. Pour ground water along the route of the hidden river. Observe where the water goes.
Melting Species (v.1 Bow River, Alberta)
Select a number of species of animal and/or plant commonly found in the Bow River watershed. Calculate the (approximate) quantity of water present in each species. Acquire a selection of differently sized water pipes used by the City of Calgary water services department. Assign each animal/plant to an appropriately sized pipe and seal one end of the pipe to make a watertight container. Fill each pipe with a quantity of water corresponding to its assigned animal/plant and place in a freezer. The water should be borrowed from the Bow River watershed. Wait until all the water is frozen. (This might take several days for larger animals and plants, such as a grizzly bear or alpine larch.) Take the ice molds from the freezer and place them somewhere near to a body of water that will find its way to the Bow River watershed. (This might prove complicated as there are, necessarily, strict regulations about putting water or any potential contaminants into the Bow River and its tributaries. Make sure that you are confident of the source of your water and that you are certain that you are recycling unadulterated water from the Bow watershed. If any members of the public witness this experiment, please take the time to explain what you are doing, making sure that you emphasise that you returning unmodified water from the Bow River watershed to the Bow River watershed.) Carefully remove the ice columns from the molds. Observe the ice melting. Depending on how much time you have, you might like to choose a site for your Melting Species that catches the sun and to carry out the experiment in late spring, summer or early fall. This experiment could also take place in winter, but observation equipment such as a camera, set to take timed photographs, might be required.
Melting Species (v.2 River Kelvin, Glasgow)
Select a number of species of animal and/or plant commonly found near to the River Kelvin. Calculate the (approximate) quantity of water present in a healthy member of each species. Acquire a selection of differently-sized drinking water containers. Assign each animal/plant to an appropriately-sized water container. Fill each container with a quantity of water corresponding to the water present in its assigned species. Place the containers in a freezer. The water should be borrowed from the River Kelvin. Wait until all the water is frozen. (This might take several days for larger animals and plants, such as the human or roe deer.) Take the ice moulds from the freezer and place them somewhere near to the River Kelvin. Carefully remove the ice columns from the moulds. Observe the ice melting. Remember that hands should be washed thoroughly if they come into contact with water from the River Kelvin.
Bow Pictures (Bow River, Alberta)
Visit the Bow River at a bridge of your choice every day for as long as you can manage. Using a zoom lens, take a photograph from the bridge looking directly down at the water. Experiment with focusing the camera on the water surface or on the riverbed. If possible, take the photograph from both sides of the bridge and from different points in the bridge, observing the differences in light, shadow, water motion and transparency.
Water Draw (v.1 Govan)
Using a hand-operated pump and a length of plastic or rubber tubing, draw water from a grated storm water drain within a selected area in Govan. Avoid touching the water with your bare hands or swallowing it. Collect the water in a screw-top bottle. Mark the date, time and location of the Water Draw on the bottle top. Repeat this action with storm water drains throughout the chosen area.
Water Filter (v.1 Govan)
Place a piece of unbleached silk in a funnel to form a filter. Pour a bottle of water drawn from a storm drain in a selected area of Govan into the funnel. Hold a clean screw-top bottle beneath the funnel tip to catch the filtered water. Place the lid from the unfiltered water bottle (marked with the date, time and location of the Water Draw) on the bottle.
Tideline (Mesolithic)(v.1 Govan)
Using maps and data generated by the British Geological Survey identify the possible tideline of the River Clyde in Govan at the conjectured time of the first human habitation in the area (during the Mesolithic period). Make a small hole in the lid of a bottle of filtered water collected from a storm water drain in Govan. Walk along the Mesolithic tideline sprinkling filtered drain water to mark the extent of the River’s inundation in the area around 13000 years ago.
Puddle Drain (generic)
Choose a small-to-medium-sized puddle. Drain all the water from the puddle using an appropriate implement. A basting syringe is ideal for this job, but you might also use a small cup or jug. Try to collect only the water and to avoid disturbing the ground beneath the puddle. Collect the water in a bucket, bowl or bottle. You could use it to create a new puddle. Try this action in different terrains, at different times of year and in different weather conditions.
This performance requires at least two human participants.
Borrow a small bottle-full of water from as many places where streams and rivers meet as you can access from the site of the performance (Morton Castle, Nithsdale). Remember to ask the watercourses for permission to borrow the water and to thank them. Before borrowing the water, assess whether it looks ‘clean’ enough for humans to drink. Only borrow water that is not obviously contaminated. Be sure to borrow the water upstream of the confluence — before the two watercourses have met. Label the bottles with the names of the watercourses, the dates and times of borrowing. Assemble the water samples at the site of the performance in pairs, placing each one beside the sample from the stream or river it was on course to meet. Introduce the paired samples of water. (You might say something like, ‘Scaur Water can I introduce you to Shinnel Water?’) With another human, carry out a greeting ritual, such as clinking the bottles together and making a toast. Take a mouthful of water from each bottle and mix it in an open-mouthed kiss with a sample of water from the river or stream to which it has just been introduced.
Watershed Watermap (v.1 Dumfries)
Using samples of water borrowed from streams and rivers in Dumfries and Galloway that flow into the River Nith, recreate the Nith watershed in miniature. Do this somewhere near to the Nith, where you can see the water draining into the river.
Choose a bottle of water. The water was borrowed by Minty Donald and Nick Millar from one of the many confluences of rivers and streams throughout Hamburg. Please accompany the bottle of water during your time in Hamburg. Take opportunities to introduce your watery companion to people, waters and things that you encounter in Hamburg.
If you wish, please use rituals and practices of meeting and introduction from your own culture, or rituals and practices that you choose to co-opt, invent or adapt.
We would be very grateful if you could send/tweet us photographs, video clips, comments or any other forms of documentation of the meetings to #watermeetshamburg
Please choose a bottle of water. The water in the bottle is from various bodies of water that we (Minty Donald and Nick Millar) have met in our home city of Glasgow, on our journey to Dartington, Devon or here in Devon. We’d like you to introduce yourself to the water and to then accompany it during your time at the Liquidscapes gathering in Dartington. Please take opportunities to introduce your watery companion to water, human and other-than-human things that you encounter during Liquidscapes.
If you wish, please use rituals, protocols and practices of meeting, greeting and introduction from your own culture, or those that you choose to co-opt, invent, or adapt. You might clink bottles or glasses; say cheers, salut, skål, prost, فى صحتك: kippis, 干杯, slàinte. You might embrace; kiss (on one or both cheeks); exchange or mix water, or…
Please think about what you would like to do with the water, after the Liquidscapes gathering.
Water Circle (generic)
This activity is intended for a group of human participants. Locate a source of water. This might be a pond, a river, a fountain, or a bucket-full of water. Stand in a circle near to the water. The person nearest to the water scoops some water from the source in their cupped hands. Trying to retain as much water as possible, they pass it to the person next to them. This person repeats the action with the person next to them. Continue until all the water has drained from the cupped hands.
Water Circle (v.1 Fuente de Minaya, Madrid)
Stand in a circle around a basin containing water borrowed from the historic Fuente de Minaya, one of the last natural springs in Madrid. One person scoops some water from the basin in their cupped hands. Trying to hold on to as much water as possible, they pass it to the cupped hands of the person next to them. This person repeats the action with the person next to them. Continue around the circle until all the water has drained from the cupped hands. The action can be repeated.
Water Circle (v.2 Rio Manzanares, Madrid)
Stand in a circle around a bucket containing water borrowed from Rio Manzanares in Madrid. One person scoops some water from the basin in their cupped hands. Trying to hold on to as much water as possible, they pass it to the cupped hands of the person next to them. This person repeats the action with the person next to them. Continue around the circle until all the water has drained from the cupped hands. The action can be repeated.
Water share (v.1 Parque el Calero, Madrid)
Offer water borrowed from the Fuente de Minaya in Quinta de Torre Arias, one of the last natural springs in Madrid, to people in Parque el Calero. Tell them where the water comes from.
Water Holes (v.1 Parque el Calero, Madrid)
Drill holes in the earth in Parque el Calero. Pour water into the holes. Observe what happens.
Ice Cups (v.1 Kuopio)
Take an ice cup from the cool box. The glass is made from frozen tap water and so is safe to touch and consume. Fill your glass with water. This might be water from a puddle, a pond, a tap — or another water source. Introduce this water to the frozen water that your cup is made of. You might say something like ‘frozen tap water meets water from the pond’. Introduce the water in your cup to other water, people and things.
Select a number of objects that you think might float from the area near to a river. Select the objects carefully, in the knowledge that you intend to put them into a river. Throw the objects into the river and observe what happens to them. Try this at different times of year and in different weather conditions.
Water Name (what can I call you?)
Locate a body of water. Find out if it has a name, or names, and who named it. Address it by its given name, or names. Would you like to call it by another name?