StreamLines: Water as a Resource

Mary Miss/City as Living Laboratory created a series of installations for StreamLines along five major tributaries of Indianapolis. The theme for the site at the Central Canal was “Water as a Resource.” Topics at the site included precipitation, infrastructure, industry, engineering, recreation and ecosystem services.

Water is essential for transport and therefore many cities are built along waterways to facilitate the transport of goods. Canals represent some of the greatest engineering projects in history. This canal—an ambitious but failed attempt to connect local waterways with the Erie Canal—bankrupted Indiana in the 1800s. Although it was never fully completed, today it is the source of most of Indianapolis’ drinking water and the Towpath continues to provide a valuable resource for transport — not of goods, but of people on foot and wheels.

StreamLines was an interactive, place-based project that merged the sciences and the arts to advance the community’s understanding and appreciation of Indianapolis’ waterways. This work was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation and was modeled on the City as Living Laboratory/FRAMEWORK. StreamLines featured a collection of installations along Indianapolis’ waterways and adjacent greenspaces inviting the community to learn, explore and experience the science of local water systems through visual art, poetry, dance and music. StreamLines was administered by the Center for Urban Ecology at Butler University. For more information, visit StreamLines.org or on social media as @StreamLinesIndy.