The Water Understands Civilization Well

October 14 - 28, 2023
October 8, 2022
AltaSea’s Blue Hour 3: Warehouse at AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, CA.

The Water Understands Civilization Well is an installation by artist Taiji Terasaki that combines photography, video, and augmented reality into an immersive experience. Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Water, Terasaki considers our current relationship with water and our efforts towards conservation. He is especially concerned with rising carbon emissions and the proliferation of microplastic pollution that have led to the destruction of coral reefs and delicate aquatic ecosystems worldwide. 

The intrinsic knowledge of water is ubiquitous– it flows within our bodies and through the oceans surrounding the continents. If respected and used with care, water will aid the world in flourishing. If instead, humanity chooses not to work in concert with water’s inherent nature it will ravage “in perfect time and measure” everything around it. Will we, the collective human race, learn from water’s knowledge? Will we be attuned to its teachings in order to halt climate change and save our planet from irreversible harm? These are the questions Terasaki invites audiences to contemplate as they experience The Water Understands Civilization Well. 

The Water Understands Civilization Well is an ongoing multi-media project launched in collaboration with Parley for the Oceans. The work debuted at AltaSea’s Blue Hour event on October 8th and remained on-site as part of AltaSea’s Artist Residency program. The Water Understands Civilization Well will be taking part of AltaSea’s Blue Hour: Above and Below 2023 event from October 14 - 28, 2023 with new work.

Special thanks to AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles and the AltaSea Artist Residency program. Grateful acknowledgement to Christian Miller and the Schmidt Ocean Institute for the use of source photography. Additional support provided by MakeVisible.