A precision pump drips water onto the floor of the gallery at a precisely controlled rate so that the level of water in the gallery is rising at the same rate as the ocean is rising due to climate change.

The title of this work varies depending on the context in which it is shown. At our exhibition “Nothing Beside Remains” at Regelbou 411 it was titled “26.81187215 ML/HOUR” since this is the flow required to fill that particular space so that the water level in the room rises by 3.4mm per year - the current rate that oceans are rising.

The regular drip of the water is evocative of the passing of time, at once meditative and insistent. Most people are very surprised at the speed that the water is dripping. Even in a small space, such as Regelbau 411 there is about one drop per second. In larger galleries this can be much faster. The surprising speed of the drip makes our perception of the apparently slow process of ocean rise feel urgent and concrete.

Development

We developed custom hardware and embedded software which drives the pump motor to provide extremely accurate flow rates. The system is connected to the internet and so will automatically adjust its flow rate if the current estimates of ocean rise is updated. During installation in a gallery we will do an accurate survey of the space to determine the floor area so that the system can calculate the appropriate flow rate.