Sculpting The Floods

Nathalie Miebach explores how scientific data can be experienced through artistic processes. Her work engages with meteorology, ecology, and oceanography, translating data from these disciplines into woven sculptures and musical scores. Rather than visualizing data for clarity or communication, Miebach’s goal is to provide a different way of experiencing data—to make the complexities of natural systems physically and emotionally perceptible.

Basket weaving serves as her primary method for data translation. The weaving grid becomes a framework for organizing numerical information into three-dimensional form. This tactile process reflects both the precision and the subjectivity involved in interpreting data: Each structural or color decision embodies a relationship between measurement and meaning. Through this process, data becomes material—something to be shaped, bent, and held—inviting audiences to engage with information beyond the screen or graph.

The works featured here come from Miebach’s ongoing series The Floods, which investigates extreme weather events linked to storms, precipitation, and sea-level rise. Each sculpture is based on data collected from specific flood events, integrating meteorological records with local observations and personal narratives. By juxtaposing scientific measurement with lived experiences, Miebach highlights the human dimensions of climate change—how data points correspond to disrupted communities, shifting coastlines, and the resilience of affected ecosystems.

Her approach underscores that understanding climate phenomena is not only a matter of analysis but also of perception. As policymakers, scientists, and citizens confront increasing environmental uncertainty, Miebach’s work suggests that expanding how we experience data—through touch, form, and sound—can deepen engagement with the realities that data represents. It asks not how art can explain science, but how it can help us feel the systems we seek to understand.