An IWAC microcosm at the WOW Field Centre

“As sure as I am standing here, one day I will disappear.” (Lyrics by Brian Copsey)

The same can be said of Mars, the stars and Planet Earth. Nothing remains quite as it is. Some changes happen so slowly that generations pass without noticing them; others unfold before our eyes.

Heraclitus of Ephesus made change central to his understanding of the universe. Benjamin Franklin expressed the idea more directly: “When you are finished changing, you are finished.”

At World of Water, we are interested in what happens when we look closely at change: what causes it, how it proceeds, what disappears, what survives and what emerges in its place. Water is part of many of these stories, from the rusting of iron and the erosion of landscapes to the preservation of materials and the movement of matter through living systems.

Our collection gives us a way to explore these processes through real objects, images and observations.

From collection to microcosm

The Museum of Re-Design, Decomposition and Decay is one of the microcosms we are developing at the WOW Field Centre as part of the International Water Awareness Centre (IWAC).

A microcosm is a small world that offers a view into a much larger one. Here, objects bring ideas into physical view. Instead of encountering a subject only through words on a screen, visitors can look at actual things, notice their details and begin to make connections between them.

The Field Centre also gives us a practical place to demonstrate and bench-test the IWAC approach. We can explore how objects, photographs, interpretation, storytelling and film work together; see which connections are most revealing; and learn how a visitor might move from one question to another.

These microcosms are not separate from the wider work of World of Water. They are where our subjects begin to take physical form.

Change at different speeds

Consider a raw clay sculpture beneath a dripping tap. Drop by drop, water alters the clay. The change can be watched as it happens. Compare that with the slow erosion of a coastline, the gradual corrosion of metal or the conditions that preserve remains in a peat bog. Each involves different materials, processes and timescales.

Artists, too, have explored change and decay. Damien Hirst’s A Thousand Years, for example, confronts viewers with a contained cycle of life, death and decomposition. It offers a very different encounter from watching water slowly reshape a piece of clay, but both prompt questions about transformation and the passage of time.

Objects make such ideas tangible. A tool showing the effects of rust, a material worn by water or an object redesigned for another purpose can open up a discussion that extends well beyond the object itself.

What caused the change? What has been lost? What remains? Is this an ending, or one stage in a continuing process?

And where does water fit into the story?

Re-design, decomposition and decay

These three words point towards related but distinct aspects of change.

Decay draws our attention to deterioration: materials breaking down, surfaces changing and structures losing their original form.

Decomposition takes us into the processes by which materials are broken down and their constituents become part of wider natural cycles.

Re-design brings human choices into the picture. We alter, repair, reuse and transform things, sometimes extending their lives and sometimes creating new problems through the materials and processes we choose.

Water connects with all three. It can contribute to deterioration, carry materials through the environment, support biological processes and help shape the conditions in which things are preserved or transformed. Human decisions determine much of what happens next: what we make, what we discard, what we recover and what we allow to enter the water systems on which life depends.

Looking at these subjects together helps us see change not simply as something that happens to objects, but as part of the continuing relationship between people, materials and the natural world.

A collection that changes with its presentation

Our collection contains more objects than we have room to display at the Field Centre at any one time. The microcosm therefore presents a selection, bringing particular objects together to explore a subject and its connections.

Other objects remain available for future displays, comparisons and discoveries. As we develop IWAC, we can change the selection, explore different relationships and use what we learn to improve the way the subjects are presented.

This is part of the value of the Field Centre as a working environment for IWAC. We can try out ideas at a human scale, see how they work with real objects and real visitors, and build on the results. The experience helps us develop an approach that can be extended to other WOW subjects and, in time, to the wider ambitions of IWAC.

See the microcosm

Our photographs and short film bring you closer to the objects selected for this microcosm. The film includes an audio introduction, offering a brief guided look at the exhibits and the ideas that connect them.

[One-minute film: Museum of Re-Design, Decomposition and Decay]

The microcosm is one part of a much larger exploration. Subjects such as Water in Nature and Water in the Home provide other ways into the story, revealing how water connects everyday experience with wider environmental, cultural and scientific questions.

The objects are here to be looked at closely, discussed and connected with what we already know — and with what we have yet to discover.

All life depends on clean water. Understanding the connections is part of learning how to care for it.

From the subject to the microcosm

Water’s part in disintegration and decay opens a window onto a much wider story of change. At the WOW Field Centre, we are developing a Museum of Re-Design, Decomposition and Decay as one of the microcosms of the International Water Awareness Centre (IWAC).

Here, selected objects bring the subject into physical view. Photographs and a short film introduce the exhibits, while the collection helps us explore how objects, stories and connections can work together to make IWAC tangible.

Explore the Museum of Re-Design, Decomposition and Decay →

Doors into the Next Layer of the Story

Explore Water in Disintegration and Decay for a wider introduction to the ways water contributes to erosion, corrosion, preservation and transformation.

Visit World of Water to explore more subjects and discover how they connect.