Submissions | VizChitra 2026
Puddle Beneath the Plate
Shreya
Student•National Institute of Design, Bengaluru
Description
About the Project: This tangible data installation explores the water footprint of everyday meals by representing the total freshwater consumed across the food supply chain, from cultivation and irrigation to processing and distribution. Aligned with SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), the work highlights how water use embedded in food remains largely invisible to consumers.
Experience: Visitors encounter a table-based installation resembling a dining setup. Common meals are placed on individual placemats designed to resemble puddles of water. Each placemat has ripples that encodes the meal’s water footprint in proportional scale, creating the illusion of a real puddle beneath the plate, something present yet typically unnoticed. A concise legend explains how the data is translated. Visitors move around the table, compare meals, and observe variations in scale. The experience is contemplative and comparative, lasting approximately 3 to 5 minutes per visitor.
Why Data is Central: The installation is generated directly from verified comparative water footprint data measured in litres per unit of food. Scale, proportion, spacing, and material quantity are determined by numerical values. Data does not decorate the work; it constructs it. The visual and spatial relationships emerge from measured differences within the dataset.
Core Question: What changes when the hidden water embedded in our meals becomes materially visible?
Context: Agriculture accounts for the largest share of global freshwater withdrawals, yet this resource intensity rarely informs daily food choices. In water-stressed and rapidly urbanising regions, understanding embedded water becomes increasingly urgent. The project connects individual consumption to broader food systems, ecological stress, and sustainability infrastructures.
Why it Fits Data, Otherwise: By translating environmental statistics into embodied spatial form, the work treats data as material, revealing the intimate link between everyday life and planetary resource systems.
Data Source
The data has been sourced from credible secondary sources on food water footprints:
- WaterCalculator.org
- Our World in Data
- 4TU ResearchData repository
- Water Footprint Network (waterfootprint.org)
These sources compile life-cycle and agricultural water use data, typically measured in litres per kilogram or per metric ton of food.
Technical Requirements
Spatial Requirement
- Six Tables ( 4 ft × 3 ft)
- Height: Standard table height (75–90 cm)
- Clear circulation space: At least 3 ft (90 cm) around the table for movement and viewing
The installation relies on comparative scale. Visitors need to step back to perceive proportional differences and move closer to read the legend and inspect material quantities. Adequate circulation ensures multiple viewers can engage simultaneously without crowding.
Project Status & Timeline
This is an existing work which is a part of my Tangible Data Viz module at National Institute of Design, Bengaluru.