What is The Colour of Water? (2020)

Grappling with the technological and digital representations of water and liquid form

In Spring term 2020, I chose Colour for my Critical Studies seminar with David Batchelor. One of those challenging and elusive topics that sits right in front of us all the time, colour is pervasive yet indescribable. Through the works of Pamela Rosenkranz, Kari Altmann and Olia Lialina, I tackle how water is represented in two complementary ways. One, through liquid form and imagery, water is used to convey an idealised, post-human essence. Two, how the connection between digital blue (BSOD) and water is used as a trope by technology and corporations to push the imaginary of human-artificial symbiosis as intrinsic to our nature.

Read my essay below