Singapore Science Center

Bottled Water Testing Station

A Proposal for the Tech Virtual Museum Water Project

The Singapore Science Center held a Water Project competition in the Tech Virtual Museum,
and I entered using my metaverse avatar name, Flashing Merlin.

Pictured are a row of bottled waters, brand after brand. However all the bottles are inverted, and have drinking tubes inserted, such that a hamster may drink from any it chooses. Over the course of time we can observe the water levels in the various bottles to see if the hamster is expressing a preference for some brands over others. Presumably this hamster has not been influenced by the ad campaigns of the various bottlers. Thus we are able to quantifiably observe how this animal's instincts respond to the choices available to consumers. This piece is designed to call attention to the disparity between our creature need for water on an animal survival level, and the commodification of water which has turned it into an 8 billion dollar market in the USA alone.
How are people to weight the competing claims of bottled waters, and determine the benefits of one brand over another? Worse yet, we hear reports that some brands are just tap water, while others are less pure, and less safe than tap water. How can people decide whether the benefits to themselves are worth spending several dollars a bottle, or whether everyone would be better off if we all drank tap water, and instead of spending our money on bottled water, donated the money toward the U.N. goal of halving the number of people without adequate water supplies by 2015?
There is a labyrinth under the "Bottled Water Testing Station." Holes lead up into to the small hamster houses seen below the bottled waters. Hamsters are burrowing creatures that spend most of their time underground. The hamster can find its way underground between any two houses by passing through the center of the labyrinth. A plastic tunnel leads down to an aquarium below the labyrinth.
A hamster tube leads down to the lower enclosure providing the hamster a sense of depth, such as a natural burrow might afford because in real life it would burrow down a few feet. There in his lair the hamster can find a bottle of the local tap water. Will he be content with that, or will he venture to the surface seeking to sample the exotic foreign waters? Will viewers remember this exhibit next time they're tempted to venture to the market to buy bottled water? Hopefully they will think of the hamster, and remember the disparity of water distribution and the U.N.'s millennium goal of reducing by half the number of people without regular water supplies by 2015.
The hamster himself. Chief Executive Officer and sole employee of the "Bottled Water Testing Station," unchallenged master of this domain. Hamsters are solitary creatures, and males will fight with other male hamsters if they are kept in the same enclosure. Will this hamster succeed in his mission to call attention to the global disparity of water availability, and the U.N.'s millennium goal of reducing by half the number of people without regular water supplies by 2015?
The first hamster was raised in an aquarium with a food bowl, a bottle of tap water, a hamster house, and plastic hamster tubing to play in. I found that aquarium after he was abandoned in it. He wanted to squirrel away nuts in the plastic compartments joined by hamster tubing. I built the Bottled Water Testing Station above him, and extended his plastic tubing up to it. Ideally the hamster recruited for a Science Center version would also have been rescued, and would therefore also feel at home in such an aquarium which pet hamsters are typically raised in. I see this construction as a metaphor for expanding our horizon from the tap water found in our homes to the marketplace of bottled waters, and the choices that entails.
Although I submitted this as an art project intended to make a point about the commodification of water, there is also hard science involved. All of the bottles used in this piece need to be tested for safety by conventional water testing before the hamster is exposed to them. The point needs to be made that water is not necessarily safe just because it's been bottled. Shortly after the first hamster began exploring the bottled waters, it contracted a stomach virus and perished. I had not realized how unsafe bottled water might actually be until that tragedy.
The work is well received by the other designers, as well as by Agent Heliosense, The Tech Virtual Museum rep, and Art Dufaux, the Singapore Science Center rep: [17:33] Agent Heliosense: ok why don't we start with Flashing's exhibit [17:33] Flash Light a.k.a.Flashing Merlin: ok [17:34] Art Dufaux: I wish I was a hamster... [17:34] Agent Heliosense: hilarious Flashing, can you walk us through this concept [17:34] Flashing Merlin: It's about the commodification of water [17:35] Agent Heliosense: so the hampster can sort of shop around [17:35] Art Dufaux: I saw on the wensite that you actually built this in RL [17:35] Flashing Merlin: There's great disparity in the world about the availability of water [17:36] Flashing Merlin: Yes Art, true [17:36] Art Dufaux: absolutely [17:36] Alisa Cleanslate: It's funny and true. [17:37] Agent Heliosense: where is the real life one? [17:37] Art Dufaux: I think this is a great conceptual piece - makes you think, and re-evaluate the shelves ath the supermarket [17:37] Theodolite Wickentower: Here in the States, there's even some potable water issues. [17:37] Flashing Merlin: Raises the question of sapending billions on bottled water, when some people have no water available. [17:37] Agent Heliosense: is this something you did at home, or is it in a public space ? [17:37] Seafore Perl: And some of the older generation still amazed that a person could put water in a plastic bottle and sell it at such a price! [17:38] Lydia Milner: lol Seafore [17:38] Flashing Merlin: In my studio. It's never been shown in public [17:38] Art Dufaux: What did the real hamster think of this? [17:38] Theodolite Wickentower: It annoys me, but the city water here has some nasties in it that have made me and my husband sick... [17:39] Art Dufaux: I guess what I'm asking is, did you observe the results of this in the RL piece? [17:39] Agent Heliosense: it's brilliant, i have a question, why is the tap water below , can the hampsters get to it [17:39] Flashing Merlin: In the bottom would be the local Singapore tap water. Which will the hamster prefer? [17:40] Theodolite Wickentower: :-D [17:40] Flashing Merlin: Yes the hamster will travel down the hamster tube. [17:41] Slacker Chingseng: this is going to be a relatively long experiment to observe considering the amount of water a hamster would be drinking daily? [17:41] Flashing Merlin: Hamsters like to go deep into their burrow [17:41] Art Dufaux: Of course, to the hamster, the choice may depend on other things than the water quality - location of the source being the first that comes to mind [17:41] Agent Heliosense: it's an unforgettable image [17:41] Flashing Merlin: Thx Agent. [17:42] Slacker Chingseng: but it's quite true, we never paid attention to this topic [17:42] Theodolite Wickentower: This would appeal to kids, and folks that like animals young and old... they would remember and think about this. [17:42] Flashing Merlin: Slacker, The water bottles can be refilled. [17:42] Art Dufaux: If you really wanted to test the hamster's preference, you'd have to eliminate all other factors somehow... any ideas how to do that? [17:43] Slacker Chingseng: i was just thinking of the results/conclusion to this experiment... [17:43] Flashing Merlin: I hope to call attention to the UN goal of making water available where it's needed [17:43] Art Dufaux: Yes, as a conceptual piece it works well, I think [17:44] Agent Heliosense: hmm, they'd have to be in identical bottles i guess, and the tap would have to be in the lineup - but can the hampster differentiate these brands? I'm not optimistic the experiment would reveal their brand of choice. [17:44] Slacker Chingseng: would it be a situation where the hamster will drink from the nearest bottle or would it develop a taste for a particular brand of bottled water? [17:44] Theodolite Wickentower: If you put the water bottles in a circle, or equidistant for the hampster, it might be more telling about scientific results... [17:44] Flashing Merlin: Art, it's not meant as a scientific experiment. That's more what Teddi had in mind. [17:44] Agent Heliosense: I think it's effective to raise awareness [17:44] Lydia Milner: do hamsters see Color? Would Color or labelling influenCe a ChoiCe? [17:45] Theodolite Wickentower: Hmmmm... [17:45] Flashing Merlin: Exactly, that's why I put it under the Art topic [17:45] Art Dufaux: great - just wanted to clarify that [17:46] Slacker Chingseng: Art, this could go into the Bioethics Exh. [17:46] Agent Heliosense: i don't think you'd want to call it an experiment anyway - you're testing this water on animals! [17:46] Art Dufaux: Yes, interesting [17:46] Seafore Perl: It's a clever idea, flashing, and despite its humorous somewhat tongue in cheek approach, it makes us think. [17:46] Theodolite Wickentower: Hee hee... could have multiple hampsters and use it as a polling sort of thing... grins [17:46] Lydia Milner: lol [17:46] Flashing Merlin: Thx Seafore [17:47] Agent Heliosense: I would tell my friends to go see it. [17:47] Chauncey Glendevon: brilliant [17:47] Agent Heliosense: so this is great Flashing, it is also very complete Eventually Bottled Water Testing Station was selected as one of two winners of this competition.