Presentation short abstract

DRINK THE RIVER is a video game and expanded animation, offering a critical (re)imagination of the River Eden in Cumbria, northern England. Through moving between the worlds of river and human body in the game, porosity between watery bodies is emphasized and human-river-sewage-cycle explored.

Presentation long abstract

DRINK THE RIVER is a collaboration between artist and researcher Rosa Prosser, and animation artist and programmer Christopher Bonk.

Due to sewage pollution into the River Eden (the Eden is in the top 20 most polluted rivers in the UK) and land ownership difficulties, access to and into the river is contested. Responding to these difficulties of directly entering the river, we developed a video game titled "Drink the River", building the world of the river into game format, to reimagine our access and immersion.

Through the world building of the game, we explored direct and indirect relations between the river and ourselves - the game moves between the river and the human body, allowing for a very literal exploration of our intra-actions with the river, reminding the player that we are in fact bodies of water. We are now working on a project in VR, taking the idea of gaming and world building to explore the entanglements of history, industry, people, and ecology in the River Emscher, Germany.

The form of a game gives playful exploration of these issues - allowing for all ages to engage and opening access beyond those directly in contact with the river. The space of the game also allows for (re)imaginations, something we are especially interested in - how can thinking through and with the river in a different form, open conversations for how we can redraw boundaries, definitions, and (re)imagine (playful) possible futures.