Bidston Observatory Artistic Research Centre

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29 November – 1 December 2019

Friday

Possible Bodies: Somatopologies, screening & guide by Jara Roche & Femke Snelting

Saturday

Roughly <1/2 a day: Texts on measurement

Katherine Sammler - on visualisation and juridical sea/land boundary practices: The rising politics of sea level - demarcating territory in a vertically relative world (2019)

Roughly <1/2 a day: Looking at FVCOM + NetCDF format. The current 'tidal prediction machines', and the way that they produce visualisations.

Sunday

Roughly <1/2 a day: Measuring device interrogation

Karen Barad - on technoscientific practices, or how material-discursive practices matter: Meeting The Universe Halfway (2007)

Modelling Waves Swerves

Before its most recent iteration as a site of Artistic Research, Bidston Observatory housed the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). A large part of the work which took place in the building was related to tidal prediction – speculating on what height the tide would be in any given place, at a given moment, depending on different natural and human influenced factors.

In the second half of the 19th century tidal prediction was done through harmonic analysis, studying the graphical output of tidal prediction machines. Those early analog computers produced a wave-like form that, when output in a jagged way, had to be rubbed out and drawn in again by hand. There was even a name for this human job in assistance to the computation process: the ‘smoother’.

As computational models expand and deepen with ever-increasing data sets, and the aesthetics of prediction rush their transformations from wavy lines on a paper page, to hyper-real 3D renderings, we'd like to pause for a moment to look at the histories of oceanographic measurement, computation and visualisation.

By observing together the devices and techniques dedicated to these tasks, Modelling Waves and Swerves will inquire into what is the context of this data-practice, and what are the 'smoothing' operations that characterize the work of today's oceanographers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an artistic research centre?

In the arts, just like in the sciences, research is conducted in the process of making or experimenting. Practitioners take time, and focus attention on the way that they conduct their practice – however it fits into a discipline, or sits outside many. The process of doing research in the arts varies greatly, and there is no one methodology which applies to all. This artistic research centre is a space where people can come to explore different methods of working, have time for reflection, and get feedback from other practitioners.

What do you mean by self-organising?

The stewards are here to support the building and its resources. The building and its resources are here to support you and your work. While the project is all about trying to make things possible, stewards are already fully occupied with administration and practicalities and can not be expected to support the needs of your personal practice too.

Why is it only possible to stay for a minimum of two nights?

It’s not possible for people to stay for one night only, as this tends to take away from the community’s resources rather than add to it - not to mention the extra laundry costs!

Why is it only possible to stay for a maximum of one month?

In order for this resource to be shared by multiple different groups and individuals, stay is capped at one month. This keeps the space flowing and stops areas becoming territorialised unintentionally. As this is a study site, it is not possible to just live here, though we understand study takes many different forms and doesn’t always appear “productive”.

Why is there a sliding scale?

Many of the decisions we make here at BOARC focus on keeping this resource available for practitioners. The sliding scale helps us to offer a subsidised rate to people who would benefit.

Why is it important to read the values?

through the values carefully and make a decision for themselves about whether they feel aligned. It is not important to share all of these values exactly as they are written, but you should be aware that this is an actively anti-racist, anti-ableist, intersectional feminist site, and there are accountability guidelines in place here for users, stayers, stewards and organisers alike.[Link to values here]