Multi-component, processual installation: 1) Generative video on translucent display. 2) Sonic object with water surface (Fluctus). 3) Series of 6 drawings created by robotic arm. 4) LED industrial light.. High-performance workstation with CUDA acceleration. Raspberry Pi 4B. Translucent LCD display. Subwoofer, PP cylinder. LED industrial light (600W, warm yellow). Archival paper, aluminium frames. Result is a continuous projection of water micro-world.
BASIC INFORMATION
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
CONTEXT AND ORIGIN
ARTWORK CONCEPT
EXHIBITIONS
CONNECTIONS
Series
Hydro-Syntax
ID
2021-HS-TR-01
Date of origin
16.3.2021
Technique
Multi-component, processual installation: 1) Generative video on translucent display. 2) Sonic object with water surface (Fluctus). 3) Series of 6 drawings created by robotic arm. 4) LED industrial light.
Dimensions
2000×2000x2000mm
Duration
Continuous, generative
Software
AquaScript Engine v2.0 (custom patch in TouchDesigner). Generates video of „digital ink“ based on SDG661 dataset. Image analysis (brightness, motion) controls low-frequency audio signals for subwoofer. Drawings generated ex situ using Python script (conversion to G-code for robotic arm).
Hardware
High-performance workstation with CUDA acceleration. Raspberry Pi 4B. Translucent LCD display. Subwoofer, PP cylinder. LED industrial light (600W, warm yellow). Archival paper, aluminium frames.
Data source
Global dataset SDG 6.6.1 (Sustainable Development Goal) monitoring changes in water ecosystems, sdg661.app (UN Environment).
Interaction
Systemic, causal. Individual parts of the installation interact in a chain of cause and effect: data → image → sound → light.
The installation maps the transformation of water resources through a hybrid union of data analysis and ephemeral artistic representation. In line with Kryštof Brůha’s methods, this is not a matter of documentation, but of a fluid dialogue between a natural phenomenon and its technological interpretation. Through luminous, sonic, and graphic objects, it creates a polyphony of perspectives: from the depletion of groundwater to unexpected biodiversity in arid regions. „Water is not a problem, but a syntax,“ Brůha notes—each data point becomes a notation within a score that oscillates between decline and regeneration.
At the core of the installation lies a pair of interconnected objects. Transmutatio translates European Commission watercourse mapping data into video drawings, in which an algorithm simulates the bleeding of digital ink displayed on a translucent display. This process evokes both slow erosion and the spontaneous formation of river deltas. The data outputs subsequently feed the adjacent object, Fluctus, which converts these visual dynamics into audio frequencies that vibrate the surface of the water in the tank—“here, data pulsates like a subterranean spring that breaks through rock while simultaneously shaping it.“
This symbiosis is complemented by a series of six drawings created by a robotic arm. Calibrated errors in its movements mimic the unpredictability of natural processes: the density of the black ink reflects the extent of changes in the landscape, while blank areas suggest the paradox of stability. „Even the desert harbors a liquid memory,“ Brůha points out—dry valleys were once rivers, just as the black pigment can be a trace of vanished moisture.
The glowing yellow light enveloping the installation functions as an ambivalent metaphor, recalling both life-sustaining sunlight and fire destroying ecosystems. It does not appeal to catastrophism, but rather reveals the dual role of human intervention—technology as an instrument of both destruction and understanding. The sound, modulated by the water’s surface—which never repeats itself—reminds us: „any attempt to capture nature is merely a reflection on the surface—we see our own face, distorted by ripples of our own making.“ Thus, the installation refrains from judgment, offering instead a liquid archive: fragments of reality that will endure only until the next draining of the tank or the disintegration of the pigment.
