Mar, Mar e Mar, 2024

Mar, Mar e Mar is inspired by a poem by Eugénio Entrada whose mysterious, tender and at times erotic paean to the sea expresses so much of what is unrecognized as we consider what we stand to lose as greed brings us ever closer to the brink. Working with scientists and incredible performers we’ve developed an immersive video and sound installation that brings to life the spirit of the poem. Mar, Mar e Mar uses creative coding to combine scientific imaging, performance video and sound, in scenes that shift based on randomization programming. Unexpected combinations of imagery and sound emerge, with no beginning or end. Performers were asked to embody a prompt: “speak for the sea using only your bodies, hands and face.” For Mar, Mar e Mar creative coding altered recordings of their responses to reflect the mathematical processes of fluid dynamics and the biological processes of the marine world. The resulting images were layered with scientific imaging and projection mapped in an immersive installation. 

Crystal Cortez developed the soundscape through data sonification of sounds gathered in the deep ocean by the scientists of the Ocean Observatory Institute. Voices of scientists from the Institute were collected and combined with the sounds of the sea to suggest a “stream of consciousness.” In all our work we were inspired by Virginia Weiss’s reflections on the role of symbiosis in nature and the realization that we are not separate from the rest of the living world.

With generous participation from scientists of the Ocean Observatory Institute

Location/s: Newport Art Museum, Rhode Island; PRAX Center for Art Science & Technology, Oregon
Sound: Crystal Cortez 
Performers: Sophia Wright Emigh, Jaleesa Johnston, Lisa Kusanagi, Laura Cannon, Min Yoon 
Media/Details: Transparent projection scrims, video projection mapping, creative coding and immersive sound, variable sizes not less than 60’ x 50’ x 18’