Our History

WaterMarks: An Atlas of Water for the City of Milwaukee is a project to build a city-wide network of engagement that starts with the topic of water. It focuses on the history, present state and future of water in the city and Lake Michigan.

In 2014, New York City artist Mary Miss, who also helped envision the popular Milwaukee RiverWalk in the late 1990s, was invited to develop an urban-scale vision for art and water for the city Milwaukee. Working with artist Aaron Asis to develop the framework for this vision, WaterMarks is an urban-scaled initiative designed to activate and engage residents throughout our Water Centric City. Within each neighborhood a symbolic WaterMarker focuses on particular theme, community expression, or sector perspective that adds richness to our shared understanding of and value for water. Taken together, WaterMarks creates space for all Milwaukeeans to contribute to this "Atlas of Water."

Connecting all these WaterMarkers with each other and the many communities of the city is an ongoing process of community engagement. Following the City as Living Laboratory practices of WALKS, WORKSHOPS and PROJECTS, we are imagining and co-creating new, positive narratives of a sustainable future in Milwaukee, not only in terms of water but in terms of the neighborhoods themselves. With this project we aspire to help create more robust community organizations for the neighbors they serve.

Each WaterMarker will feature a single character informed by local input and related to their locations. They will be blue to represent our connection to water and will be programmed to pulse when heavy rain is expected, as a visual signal about the importance of individual actions that can reduce flooding and sewer overflows. Surrounding each WaterMarks location, a series of projects by local artists, walks featuring artists and scientists, and stories shared by local voices will unite our communities around water-related topics, concerns, or memories to build stronger relationships with the water systems that supports our lives.

The central beacon for this city-wide project will be a WaterMaker at the Jones Island Water Treatment Plant. This structure, which is visible through the city, will indicate to residents when there is the increased concern of a sewage overflow into the lake — communicating the same message about overflows out to the immediate neighborhood.

Each WaterMarker will act as a portal to share community perspectives and elevate our collective understanding with regards to the value of water — to reinforce, strengthen, broaden, and deepen Milwaukee's community connection to our water as part of our everyday lives. Connecting all these WaterMarkers with each other and the many communities of the city is an ongoing process of community engagement to communicate that water is a shared resource that connects us all.

As the resource of water and issues around its availability and protection are raised, multiple aspects of sustainable development—health, social justice, employment, infrastructure, education, nutrition, wildlife conservation—also come to view. Water serves as a platform to engage the full agenda of sustainable development. It also highlights that we must address the human needs for equitable lives of dignity and freedom in order to effectively take on the challenge of climate change.