Peep Under the Elbe
Water testing kits to assess the water quality of canals near homes, empowering residents to identify safe swimming and fishing spots.
Initiator(s)
Critical Art Ensemble
Description
The project aimed at providing residents of Wilhelmsburg, a poor and neglected neighbourhood in Hamburg, a water testing kit for analysing the quality of the canal water near their homes in order to find out clean swimming and fishing areas.
Context
Goals
Try to encourage populations who use the canals for recreation to move around a bit, finding where the safest places were for the popular activities of swimming and fishing.
Beneficial outcomes
It empowered people with tools, CAE tested the quality of the local water, and gave the inhabitants water testing kits to monitor their own environments.
Location
Germany
Users
CAE (Steve Kurtz, Lucia Sommer and Steve Barnes), Inhabitants.
Maintained by
Exhibition ‘Natur/Kultur’, curated by Anke Haarmann and Harald Lemke
Duration
2008
Category
Scientific
Pedagogical
Politics
Urban Development
Economy
Environment
Social
