Specter[al]s of Nature is a work informed by scientific earth observation research on surface water. It is a product of speculative cartography that take inspiration from the time maps in the Atlas of Global Surface Water Dynamics while progressing into 3D water beings with ghostly margins and uncertain boundaries. Rather than being determined by the topography and depth of the water bodies, the project emphasizes the role of time as the driving force behind the creation of the third dimension. Its primary objective is to stimulate critical thinking regarding our limited understanding of time and space, which often results in our disconnection from nature itself and the profound consequences of our actions. Through the creative amalgamation of composite imagery derived from satellite technology, it presents a vivid depiction of a dynamic, post-anthropocenic, living, cartography that encompasses multiple ways of seeing, both human and non-human.

Ingrid Mayrhofer-Hufnagl is an experimental architect, researcher, and educator from Austria. Alan Belward is head of the Food Security Unit in the Directorate for Sustainable Resources in the JRC. Elahe Rajabiani is a designer at the EU Policy lab. Luca De Felice is a geo-spatial data scientist responsible for the development and update of the Global Surface Water Explorer (GSWE) in the Knowledge for Sustainable Development & Food Security Unit at the JRC. Their ongoing collaboration is the result of successful connection at the 2022 SciArt Summer School.   

What's been driving us now is thinking of which story are we going to tell? Because there are so many, that's the thing that now with this idea of representing change of movement of water over time. And the fact that land becomes water, water becomes land. Water is constantly shifting. Which story do we tell? Do we tell the disasters? Do we tell the economic catastrophe? Do we tell the social catastrophe of people migrating from the Hamun wetlands? Do we tell the environmental catastrophe of creating a new dam somewhere and flooding all the land? Which stories do we tell?

Alan Belward, Researcher 

I hope that we are able to create an empathy for the river bodies. and a certain emotional feeling. So that then people start to think and probably even go and research and listen to the different stories. To the many different stories and different aspects.

Ingrid Mayrhofer-Hufnagl, Artist & architect 

Catch up on the team's presentation on 25/05/2023 at the JRC.