“An end to all this water”
Virginia Overell
23 Sept → 22 Oct 2016

“The future. The polar ice caps have melted and the earth lies beneath a watery grave. And those who survived have adapted to a new world” 1

Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink 2

The unthinkable vastness of the ocean stems from/ leads to our partial, compartmentalised encounters with it. Our anxieties focus in on a small area, exerting a feeling of self-control in a rapidly devolving world. Fear of the rising tide, of being overwhelmed by this unthinkable (and undrinkable) ocean. The sea, which already surrounds (encloses) Australia.

Online forums discuss home desalination and water purification projects. Prepping as a response to being-in-the-world. One aspect of what seems like endless contemporary fears (this one being the fear of the ocean enveloping us all). Romantic or feeble gestures, the futility loops back. Many of the online projects have addendums in which they admit their projects have failed. “This idea didn’t really work, I should probably just delete it or at least update it to say as much.” 3

1. 1 Waterworld , “Trailer,” Directed by Kevin Reynolds (US: Universal Pictures, 1995).
2. 2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Lyrical Ballads (London: J&A Arch, 1798) 98.
3. 3 Foobear, November 10, 2013 (7:03 p.m.), comment on Foobear, “portable solar water distiller (nevermind)” Instructibles, October 21, 2012, http://www.instructables.com/id/portable-solar- water-distiller/