Counterfactual Waters explores the present, past, and future of the Venice Lagoon as ecosystem, colonial archive, industrial body, and climate frontier through the lens of the EU’s Digital Twin of the Ocean a vast simulation designed to model the lagoon’s complexity and guide future policy decisions.

The project investigates how digital twins encode time by synchronising geological records, sensor feeds, archives, and live environmental data into predictive systems that shape which futures become visible and which remain excluded. Rather than simply representing the lagoon, these simulations interpret it by prioritising particular histories, data streams, and temporalities.

Tracing the Digital Twin within a broader history of governance tools such as maps, forecasts, and archives, the residency examines how computational models influence environmental understanding and decision-making.

Working collaboratively with communities in Venice, the project will develop public workshops and collective enquiries exploring what these systems can and cannot predict. The residency culminates in an installative scenographic work at Ocean Space, featuring an automated counter-simulation activated through live performance.