In August and October 2024 two Network Cameras were installed on floating piers, one on Bangkok Noi looking towards the Chao Phraya River and the Wat Suwannaram Ratchaworawihan (Temple) in Bangkok, and the second on the River Thames in London looking west towards Tower Bridge and the Shard.

   
Commissioned for the Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB 2024): Nurture Gaia, Rising Tides will observe these two riverine locations over the course of a year.
Rising sea levels due to climate change are a particular concern in Bangkok, with the Chao Phraya river regularly affected by flooding especially during the rainy season, and Bangkok under the threat of sinking within the next century. Whilst the Thames is also tidal – it can rise and fall as much as 7 metres in a single tidal cycle – London is currently protected from exceptionally high tides and floods by the Thames Barrier, the second largest flood defence barrier in the world.

The live feeds from the cameras are being encoded pixel-by-pixel in real time, from the top left to the bottom right of the image continuously, like writing on a page, with each completed image captured over just over six hours, loosely relating to the tidal cycles of both rivers as well as the time difference between locations.
As the piers rise and fall with the tides the cameras rise and fall (and wobble) with them – so that the movements, ebbs and flows of the tides are embedded and recorded within the image constructions themselves – with the perspective of the cityscapes subtly shifting as the water levels rise and fall.
The result is two endlessly accruing ‘moving stills’, each activated by light, day, night, weather, the movement of the sun, the moon, and the seasons as well as the tides, the boats, lights and activities of the rivers themselves, producing and transmitting an infinite variety of unique images.

Selected images from the work will be posted below and on Instagram at @susanalexislandscapes
and you can see the current images from each of the cameras at the top of this page.

Rising Tides was commissioned for:
Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB 2024): Nurture Gaia
October 24th 2024 – February 25th 2025

With support from:
British Council Thailand
MATDOT Art Center 

Programming by:
Matt Jarvis

With thanks to:
Professor Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Artistic Director, BAB 2024
Brian Curtin, Guest Curator, BAB 2024 & Dr. Be Takerng Pattnopas
Nawanwaj Yudhanahas, Assistant Curator, BAB 2024
Tawatchai Somkong, Founder and President, MATDOT Art Center
Sananchol Nuamnual, General Manager, MATDOT Art Center
Patcharawee Tunprawat (PhD), Head, Arts and Creative Industries, British Council Thailand
Matt Jarvis, as always for his creative programming and inventive solutions

and very special thanks to:
Irma Go and Kirati Thepsoparn, Siri Sala
Hermitage Community Moorings
for generously agreeing to host the cameras on their piers