Water on the molecular level - Responses from Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

A scientist at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard typing his response on a tea-stained Japanese paper, and more responses below. A close look at water on the molecular level by scientists. #Flow

"Flow" at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

“Flow” was installed at Broad Institute last month, and I have been collecting some interesting responses from the participants at the Broad. You can visit the Tumblr site to see some images from this current installation and submit your story about water anytime. 

The beginning. Leveling my mind first.

Installation in progress

I couldn't finish installing before the time for tea & cookies with Broadies. Here some Broadies are engaged with the work.

Broadies are happily swapping the sheets with their typed responses. Now they get to take one of my originals home.

So many people never used or even touched a manual typewriter before. Feeling the cranky keyboards and hitting the keys were fun to many people. 

Flow: investigating our relationship with water

Photo: Emily Edwards

"Flow" is a project which invites people to take time to think about water by asking them a simple question; "What is your relationship with water?"

 Participants are offered a piece of original art in exchange for their thoughts on their relationship with water—an act that may suggest a reciprocal relationship between the artist and the viewer, but also between humans and water.

Participants will leave the gallery with a tea-stained Japanese paper bearing a question or response from another person, which I re-typed from the previous installation. Each sheet also bears some marks in mineral pigment. I see this exchange as an invitation to plunge deeper into the question as I have been doing, or as a reminder for a deeper appreciation for water.

Each time I install this project, new responses will be added, and participants will take what they want to have as a reminder and leave their thoughts for others to ponder. People's thoughts on water will be circulated and passed onto other people. Sheets for participants to choose to “swap” and take home bear splashes of blue, but the sheets they use to type their responses do not. Theoretically, if all the original sheets were to be replaced by new responses, the display will not bear any mineral pigment—blue, and it would look "dry" only to bear stories from people about their relationships with water.

For the Open Studio at the Studios at MASS MoCA, I installed this project, and asked viewers to type their thoughts on water. Making a little splash or ripple effect with each exchange, I feel that together we can make a bigger wave. It's a very small humble act by each of us, but it's a start. 

You can learn more about this project on the website. You can also submit your story on Tumblr.

Photo: Emily Edwards

Flow: Work-in-progress at the Studios at MASS MoCA

Taking over the empty cafeteria as my work place. It was a quiet morning in the cafeteria when the MASS MoCA was closed. A perfect opportunity. Sound of a manual typewriter and me.