Luisa Tovar Méndez

Luisa Tovar Méndez

Luisa Tovar Méndez

Profession
Designer and artist
Project
Luisa Tovar Méndez
Based in
Spain
Platform Member
Works at
-
Luisa Tovar Méndez

About the project

NERVADURA. Branched social meteorology

NERVADURA is a citizen environmental listening proposal situated in Natzaret and La Punta, neighbourhoods adjacent to the port of Valencia, fourth largest in Europe by container traffic. The project builds on a fully functional prototype of a bio-mechanical artefact with environmental sensors for temperature, humidity, air quality and proximity, fabricated with own bioplastic and digital fabrication. A person’s presence activates data collection, which is translated into physical movement of the artefact and registered in real time. NERVADURA proposes activating a network of these artefacts with a local community, generating distributed listening points across the territory, from the port activity to the surrounding Valencian horta and coastal ecosystems, whose collective activation will be translated into an audiovisual artistic representation. The project asks who produces environmental knowledge, with what tools, and for whom. This project builds on a functional prototype developed in 2026 to continue a line of research into citizen environmental listening, open fabrication and artistic speculation. The full citizen activation is in development, seeking partnerships and funding for its realisation.

 

About the projects’ approach

NERVADURA unfolds across two moments. A construction workshop where groups of participants assemble their own artefacts from an open source kit, understanding what the device measures and what it does not, and why that matters. The workshop is a space for collaborative and community learning around critical technologies, seeking to open new forms of relationship between people, technology and the shared environmental surroundings. A territorial activation where the group departs from a central point and branches across Natzaret and La Punta, generating situated listening points. The data captured, together with the physical movements of the artefacts, is translated into an audiovisual artistic representation.

The project draws on Janine Randerson’s concept of social meteorology, which examines how collective environmental registration can generate affective atmospheres that translate data into perceptible and emotional experiences. It is an open practice and the methodology is documented and published so it can be replicated in other territories and contexts.

About the designer

Gerardo Cruz and Luisa Tovar are artists and designers with a deep interest in researching practices situated at the intersection of technology, materiality and speculative thinking. Their closely aligned practices mutually reinforce each other and share an interest in translating invisible environmental phenomena into sensible and critical experiences.

Gerardo, originally from Mexico City, integrates sound, image, physical computing and bodily exploration to investigate the relationship between perception, memory, territory and environment. He has a background in speculative design, interactive objects and participatory processes with cultural institutions.

Luisa, based in Valencia, is a designer and artist whose practice crosses research into material ecologies, systems of environmental perception and interpretation, and critical digital fabrication. She develops situated projects in collaboration with collectives and communities, combining field research with material and technological production. She co-founded Sirope Lab, a biomaterial research space developing materials from organic and inorganic residues.

This profile is part of the CitiObs × Distributed Design cohort of creative practitioners selected through an international open call exploring the role of art, design, and making in environmental protection and citizen science. From 213 proposals submitted worldwide, 25 projects were selected for their ability to connect communities, environmental observation, and creative practice in meaningful and impactful ways. Discover more about the collaboration on the CitiObs website and read about the selected projects.