can you judge a city by its waterways?

 

In the citizen science project Stiemerlab, tests are being done to monitor the "health" of the Stiemer. The tests that are now carried out there are not that different from how we examine the human body. But even after scientific examination, it is often difficult to assess the condition. Especially since it is difficult to reduce all these different results to one image or result. The question arises whether we should not bring all the tests together and see things in a less scientific light from time to time.

​

What if we could take an even closer look, observe it from the inside? Wouldn't that give us a better picture that we could communicate?

​

It is difficult to crawl into the human arteries, but in the Stiemer we can take a deep dive. With our research vessel, which is specially adapted to navigate the Stiemerbeek in ideal conditions, we can take a closer look at the entire vein. After all, it is difficult to skip sections once we are in. We can determine the situation very locally by bringing all the information together and signaling with flags. The ship and the mood of the crew are also a good touchstone. The logbook is a meticulous record of the ship's activities, but if the conditions are not ideal and the ship becomes aground, we will find it hard to hide. At those moments we need help from outside; from the people of Genk. If, on the other hand, the water becomes attractive for swimming, the crew will not hold back, and that does not go unnoticed either.

ConstructLab, Genk, 26-28/11/2021

Ism StiemerLab 

LUCAS DEVOLDER, JUUL PRINSES, EMMA RIBBENS, 
Photos SIMON VERSCHELDE
 

 

​