About

Walk along the river and watch AR poems appear over the water
'A wave in one language can be a Tsunami in another'.

Renowned Delhi-based contemporary art group Raqs Media Collective are working with Invisible Dust to present a trail of augmented reality poems along the regularly flooding Thames riverside path, 'The Tideway'.

Set against the backdrop of the river's extreme tides—rising up to seven metres—the works resonate with Richmond's deep ties to the Thames and its shifting, often unpredictable nature.
Set along a route from Richmond Bridge to Eel Pie island, the poems appear over the water of the Thames when you scan a QR code with your smartphone.
'A wave in one language can be a Tsunami in another'.

Renowned Delhi-based contemporary art group Raqs Media Collective are working with Invisible Dust to present a trail of augmented reality poems along the regularly flooding Thames riverside path, 'The Tideway'.

Set against the backdrop of the river's extreme tides—rising up to seven metres—the works resonate with Richmond's deep ties to the Thames and its shifting, often unpredictable nature.

As the UK Environment Agency notes, climate change is intensifying "Richmond's 'peak river flow, sea level rise, wind speed, wave height and storm surge", leading to more frequent and severe flooding events.

Developed through conversations with scientists at UCL in conjunction with the Royal Docks, the poems weave together references to detritus, data, trade, and capital—tracing the turbulent currents of ecological and economic systems. But just as crucially, they speak to the inner tides of the body, especially tears, linking planetary flux with human emotion.

Set along a route from Richmond Bridge to Eel Pie island, the poems appear over the water of the Thames when you scan a QR code with your smartphone.