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Flood Stories & Art
Showing vs Telling in Murals, Light Poles, Plays, Lasers and Videogames
Here are some stories and examples of how art helps us prepare for flooding.
Quick links to examples:
Why this and why now?
Well, it feels hopeful. Good for spring time. And it’s about creativity that educates and engages people in low-cost clever ways about an important topic that can be overwhelming - or forgotten - on the days between storms.
It also felt like a positive topic during a time when federal support for flood mitigation and resilience work is experiencing erosion itself. Waves of claw-backs are coming from the new federal administration, gouging at the financial base of major projects that were approved and underway to help us manage more water in the future (for more on that go here).
So…here are some good examples of hopeful creativity in this space…because we need to keep raising awareness and push for solutions (and if you know of more, please share them in comments below or email us).
Tiffany Baker: Brooklyn flood stories as public art
Maybe you have seen flood risk shared as a zone on a map, a number, or a letter score.
But when flood risk is visualized, or in story form, it can be powerful and cut through life’s clutter. Push that out onto the streets as public art, it can help translate risk to an entire community walking by - showing them that flooding can and does happen here. It also goes beyond risk to show what “resilence” looks like in everyday human terms that we can relate to.
That is what artist Tiffany Baker set out to do in her new project and it is now live.
For the last few months, Tiffany has been gathering stories for the “The Dear Neighbor Project” and transforming them into public art pieces. You may have seen Tiffany at our Flood Solutions Fair in Gowanus where she was meeting neighbors and conducting interviews.
With support from Van Alen Institute’s Points of Promise initiative, the series captures a range of flooding stories - from neighbors, small business owners, students, community leaders, local organizations - and highlights them in locations around Gowanus BK.
This type of work does a few important things:
Engages thousands of people on the dry days when work needs to be done
Humanizes the damage and the lonely recovery process after the flood
Lets us know we are not alone and that water connects us
So as you do your thing in Gowanus, be on the lookout for her work…and when you see it, scan the QR code, and dive into those stories as you stand there looking at it.
And if you want a walking tour with Tiffany Baker or to learn more about it, there are also two special events with her below:
The Dear Neighbor Project: Art Workshop |
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Blue light poles in Manhattan
Why are those light poles in Battery Park painted blue whereas others are not? To show how high the water can get.
As written about by The City’s Samantha Maldonado in her story about the $221 million flood mitigation plan known as the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project, one small but important component was the art for community engagement.
The BPCA painted roughly a dozen light poles along the length of the Esplanade “to illustrate the enormity — and urgency — of this task.” The blue goes up approximately 18’ to 23’ feet to represents the ACTUAL projected height of a 100 year surge in 2050.
Flood Sensor Aunty street plays
Currently on a mini 5 borough NYC tour, Flood Sensor Aunty is the creation of Sabina Sethi Unni who combines street theater, urban planning, and free chai tea to help people wrap their heads around flooding, and have a little fun too.
It’s funny play about a flood sensor…but this flood sensor is working at her aunt's chai shop and really wants to be a movie star. It’s all about floods, neighbors, and community.
At the performances, they also hand out free disaster prevention kits “with a little chai on the side.”
Shows coming up in late April (23, 26, 27) and more being added so check here for locations, times and to register.
Laser lights show water over the city
An artist created a visual way to experience water moving over the city, using the actual city as the art piece.
“WATERLICHT” is a large scale virtual flood that shows how high the water could reach in Amsterdam without human intervention. The effect creates wavy lines of light that simulates potential higher water levels using LED technology, software and lenses.
It was created to help raise water awareness, because, as the creator Daan Roosegaarde said: “sometimes… even the Dutch…they forget.” Much of the Netherlands is built below sea-level.
Source: WATERLICHT by Daan Roosegaarde ni Amserdam
A smaller NYC installation was re-created by Columbia University and the artist gave a talk about how he did it and why.
FEMA uses(d) art to help people realize flood risk in US West
Why? In an article from The Art Newspaper: “How artists are helping US communities prepare for environmental emergencies” the FEMA representative explained the rationale.
“Only about 7% of structures in high-risk zones are covered by flood insurance,” says Margaret Doherty, a senior specialist for FEMA’s Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning programme whose jurisdiction covers Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, an area collectively known as Region 8. “It is [FEMA’s] job to convince people that they have a risk and should consider mitigating it.”
Example here from Denver, Colorado.
Unfortunately, when we tried to see the FEMA ArtWorks program to tell you more about it, the page has been taken down:
Floodland: video game about life AFTER major flooding
“Some us remember the world before….jobs, high school sweethearts, did your team win? All the flotsam and jetsom of our world: just washed away. We are the founders of a new way of life.” These are quotes from the (well-done) trailer for the video game Floodland.
Ever since Noah, people have been thinking about what can happen when the water comes like never before.
If you are into gaming, or liked the movie “Castaway,” or you are just a fan of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this is a way to explore both those fears AND solutions. Find shelter and fresh water, work with your neighbors, and keep going from there.
Source: “Floodland” Trailer on Fanatical.com
Interesting take from Bloomberg CityLab article on the game: “‘To realistically integrate climate change into city-builder sims, the environment needs to be more than just a backdrop,’ says Konstantinos Dimopoulos, a game designer with a doctorate in urban planning. As an example, he suggests ‘punishing players for over-relying on coal and oil with flooding that drowns your characters.’ In contrast, players could be rewarded for implementing green technologies or adopting sustainable practices.”
But simulation games like this may no longer be just for gamers.
Urban planners and city officials are starting to explore use similar approaches. This was actually a major topic at the most recent Cornell Urban Tech Summit where Cornell Professor Anthony Townsend led a panel to “explore the use of digital twins and generative AI to model and mitigate risks….to further improve government efficiency and collaboration through greater transparency.”
Imagine a digital version of New York City, or any city, where all the data is loaded into a simulation that officials and academics can use to run run “what-if scenarios on flooding and the cascading impacts.
Maybe we could start with one that helps you figure out what to do in your basement ….🤔
Have a flood story or topic you think we should look into? Email us
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