As part of Hidden Currencies: Water Justice in the Age of AI, an extraordinary interdisciplinary conversation on April 30, 2026, explored how emerging technologies are reshaping the ways water is allocated, treated, monitored, and governed. With AI, data centers, and digital infrastructures increasingly influencing decisions once made solely by cities, farms, and ecosystems, the panel examined both the risks and the transformative possibilities of these tools in Swiss and U.S. contexts.
Across scientific, legal, ecological, and artistic perspectives, the discussion illuminated how water systems are becoming sites where technological innovation, public health, environmental justice, and global governance intersect.
Together, the panelists emphasized that technological progress must be paired with justice‑centered approaches that protect communities, ecosystems, and the right to water.
The discussion was framed by the exhibition Hidden Currencies: Water Justice in the Age of AI, which included an AI‑based piece by Mark Baugh‑Sasaki and a data‑driven artwork by Greg Niemeyer.
Mark Baugh‑Sasaki — Water Temple
Baugh‑Sasaki’s Water Temple offered a quietly devastating meditation on the hidden costs of computation. By placing the actual water required to generate an AI‑produced image of water inside a sculptural vessel, and allowing light and reflection to complete the work, he revealed the material footprint of digital processes with striking elegance. His piece made the invisible visible.
Greg Niemeyer — SALVS PER AQUAM / The Water Castle
Niemeyer’s installation brought the Alps into the room through hydrological data transformed into an immersive, sensory experience. His work made water systems feel urgent, intimate, and personal. Greg wore two hats, as exhibiting artist and as moderator of the Water + AI conversation.
Featured Speakers
EAWAG (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) and Postdoctoral Researcher, Stanford University
Sheena Conforti explored wastewater as a collective health signal, demonstrating how molecular data and AI‑driven analytics can detect pathogens, track disease dynamics, and support more equitable public health decision‑making.
Project Manager, Geneva Water Hub
Tadesse Kebebew discussed the legal and humanitarian dimensions of water protection in armed conflict, highlighting the civilian and environmental consequences of attacks on water systems and the urgent need for stronger international safeguards.
Stanford University; Research Director, NAWI
Meagan Mauter shared cutting‑edge research on computational tools that help design and adapt water infrastructure, from desalination to drought‑resilient planning, while underscoring the role of innovation in building sustainable water futures.
Founder & Lead Investigator, Critical Ecology Lab
Suzanne Pierre offered a powerful reframing of ecological change as inseparable from histories of colonialism and capitalism. She emphasized the importance of integrating justice, identity, and liberation into scientific inquiry and climate action.
Professor of Media Innovation, UC Berkeley
Greg Niemeyer guided the conversation with a focus on how data, art, and civic imagination can help the public understand the invisible systems, hydrological, technological, and social, that shape our lives.
This exhibition and event series was presented in collaboration with AKArt Advisory, EAWAG, the Stanford Doerr School Sustainability Accelerator, and the Geneva Water Hub, with support from Presence Switzerland and EAWAG.
to learn more about Hidden Currencies: Water Justice in the Age of AI and discover all the events of this exhibition.
First image: Mark Baugh-Sasaki, Water Temple, 2026 ©Mark Baugh-Sasaki
