A poisoned river, an excavated city, an algae bloom, a coastal village. Blue Space follows the fictional associative route of an ambiguous narrator connecting rivers, canals, lakes, and other watercourses. The text, part mystery, part anecdotal diary, is set in an ambience of ecosystem damage, city planning and social unrest and connects water with political scandals, colonial cities, gentrification, tourism and strike action. It investigates present and inherited water infrastructure, geopolitical tensions, rurality, clear and less clear forms of protest. Set across three large panels, the work uses ASCII art to magnify the rumoured causes of water system collapse and considers textiles’ inherent and historic relationship with water. It is part of an ongoing consideration of possible futures for the rural and the intermingling of ecology and the city.  

Blue Space was created after residencies with Diego Gutierrez Valladares in Biella and Poznań. It connected Valladares project Making Milpa with Sadia and Beau’s LUMIN and ‘Casgleb’ research. Following the idea of the milpa as a metaphor and model; a learning environment based on forms of collaboration and artistic research with the possibilities of friendship, conversation, collaborative practice, community engagement, alternative pedagogy, schools, food, rivers and more.  

Supported by Centrum Kultury - ZAMEK Culture Centre, Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto, Peak Cymru and Wales Arts International.