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Experience ocean data through interactive art

Overview

Our first artist-in-residence program was an exciting, innovative and fruitful venture that helps the public understand and engage with ocean data in the Salish Sea and Fraser Delta. Visual artist and University of Victoria alum Colton Hash recently completed a six-month residency working with Ocean Networks Canada scientists and data specialists to create artistic visualizations from ocean data. ![Colton.jpg](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/Colton_b17dc34229.jpg) “I think interactive art has an opportunity to engage with environmental data in a way that is intuitive and interactive, that allows people to form their own connections,” comments Colton. The Atmospheric Ocean visualizes the carbon dioxide exchange between air and sea, Marine Scintillation is an immersive visualization of plankton, Alluvial Plum allows viewers to experience the interconnections between the Fraser River and the Salish Sea, and Acoustic Turbulence uses hydrophone recordings to provide an experience of ship noise above and below the water.

Using theatre and traditional ways of knowing to address climate action

Overview

As Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) second artist-in-residence, Dennis Gupa is using the tools of theatre and drama to help bring about social change and build a sense of community in an attempt to grapple with the impact of climate change on the world’s island nations.

Meet ONC Artist-in-Residence for 2022, musician Colin Malloy

Overview

*“My goal is to create a work that immerses the audience in the world of the ocean and then through data sonification, the use of hydrophone audio, and various compositional techniques expose to the listener to the beauty of the ocean and also the disastrous effects that the oil and other industries can have on it.”* Colin Malloy Musician, percussionist, composer and audio programmer, Colin Malloy, began his four-month term in April 2022 as ONC’s third Artist-in-Residence; a program that was co-launched by the University of Victoria Faculty of Fine Arts and ONC in 2019. Malloy plans to create an eco-acoustical work for steelpan and electronics that uses the steelpan—which originated from leftover oil drums being used as an instrument—as a lens to examine the relationship between the ocean ecosystem, the oil industry and our role within that dynamic. The 20–30-minute composition will use ONC’s hydrophone recordings and interpret ocean data into soundscapes. The residency will conclude with a premiere performance in fall 2022 at the University of Victoria. After, the score will be made available so that other performers can program the piece as well. The following article was written by [John Threlfall](https://finearts.uvic.ca/research/blog/author/johnt/), School of Music, University of Victoria, and republished with permission. # Latest ONC collaboration focuses on data sonification

Ocean music from deep-sea data

Overview

How an artist sees the world can open our eyes to different viewpoints of ocean science: from exploring our relationship with the ocean to igniting new research questions and experimental approaches. Colin Malloy sonifies data from ONC’s [Oceans 3.0 Data Portal](https://data.oceannetworks.ca/home) and pairs with the Caribbean steelpan to explore our relationship with oil and water. This electroacoustical work—and graduate research—was funded through the ONC Artist-in-Residence Program. Malloy closed his residency with the first in-person recital of an ONC Artist-in-Residence in January. Malloy is a University of Victoria (UVic) interdisciplinary music technology PhD candidate, and also an award-winning percussionist and composer. He recently presented [a public recital](https://finearts.uvic.ca/music/calendar/events/phd-candidate-recital-colin-malloy/) in partial fulfillment of his degree. In his own words and music, Colin describes his journey as ONC’s 2022 Artist-in-Residence.

The science and mystery of a deep-sea whale fall

Overview

Whales may be the largest animals on earth, but what happens after they die still remains something of a mystery: even the name given to their deaths — “whale fall” — evokes a sense of the unknowable. But the latest Fine Arts graduate student to be named Artist-in-Residence with Ocean Networks Canada is seeking to both explore and de-mystify the unique relationship between a descending whale carcass and the countless species that will spend decades feeding on the biomass. “Imagine you build a new apartment building and various people live there as it ages and eventually falls apart,” notes current Department of Writing MFA candidate Neil Griffin. “That’s what happens with a whale carcass: various scavengers and decomposers move in and out . . . there are even worms that take hundreds of years to burrow single-mindedly through a thick whale vertebrae to get to the marrow inside.” As the fourth Artist-in-Residence (AIR) with Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) — a continuing partnership with Faculty of Fine Arts graduate students that has engaged previous AIRs [Colin Malloy](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/oil-and-water-fuels-ocean-networks-canada-artistic-residency/) (School of Music), [Dennis Gupa](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/using-theatre-and-traditional-ways-of-knowing-to-address-climate-action/) (Theatre) and [Colton Hash](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/experience-ocean-data-through-interactive-art/) (Visual Arts) — Griffin will be fusing the creative with the scientific in a series of lyric essays titled Whale Fall, which will explore the ecological stages of whale decomposition from its last breath to its incorporation into the deep-sea ecoscape. Fortuitously, Griffin’s proposal also lines up with ONC’s own multi-year project, *Life After Death: Whale-fall Succession and Bone Decomposition Under Varying Oceanographic Conditions*. Led by staff scientist Fabio De Leo and [ONC Research affiliate Craig Smith](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/researcher-in-residence-craig-smith-on-whale-falls/), one part of this project will see a whale carcass deployed in 2025 at 890 metres off Vancouver Island under low-oxygen conditions, where it will be continuously monitored for three years with high resolution video and sensors. “It’s a fairly new field, but some of the best minds thinking about it are right here,” notes Griffin. # Talking about science Griffin — a trained biologist who spent a decade with the University of Calgary studying wildlife in the likes of Belize, Honduras and East Africa — sees a direct connection between his previous fieldwork and his current graduate work. His MFA thesis, for example, is *The Museum of Ruin*, a SSHRC-funded book-length essay exploring the biological and human history of extinction. *The Tyee* also recently published his essay, [*The Riddle of the Monkey Puzzle Tree*](https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2022/11/04/Riddle-Monkey-Puzzle-Tree/), a fascinating conjunction of history, colonialism and natural science. “All of my writing comes out of the tenants of wildlife biology: being the observer, trying to synthesize what you see together with what you think afterwards,” he explains. “These two fields of knowledge that we keep so far apart have at their shared core the same interest in raising up the depths and exploring the unknown—be that the psyche for the arts or the natural world for the sciences. When I saw there was a residency looking for that, it seemed right up my alley.” Indeed, Griffin sees his ONC *Whale Fall* project as a natural extension of his thesis. “There’s enough connection for it to be relevant: the deep sea is also threatened by our incessant extractive activities, so there’s a lot of overlap in thought and material.”

2024 Artist-in-Residence Program Call for Proposals

Overview

Comprehensive science involves multiple perspectives. Artists across all disciplines at the University of Victoria Faculty of Fine Arts are invited to share their creative approaches on ocean science, with applications now open for the 2024 Artist-in-Residence. How an artist sees the world can open our eyes to different viewpoints of ocean science: from exploring our perspective of and relationship with the ocean to igniting new research questions and experimental approaches. Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the University of Victoria (UVic) Faculty of Fine Arts launched the Artist-in-Residence Ocean Program in 2019 to bridge this cross-disciplinary exchange. Proposals for the 2024 Artist-in-Residence are now being accepted, and Fine Arts graduate students currently enrolled at UVic are invited to apply by 22 December 2023. The Artist-in-Residence will work with Fine Arts faculty members and ONC staff and scientists who use world-leading ocean technologies to learn from and engage with current research, connecting it to their own practice and to wider societal and cultural aspects. The artist may also be invited to contribute as a lead or co-author in scientific conference proceedings and journal articles. The residency period can start anytime between 1 Feb 2024 and 31 August 2024, and last for up to four months. During that time, a cost-of-living stipend of CAD $2000/month will be paid to the selected Artist, with limited additional funds to support production or materials. The residency will conclude with a public exhibit or event within a specified budget agreed to during the residency. The Artist-in-Residence Program is a partnership between ONC and the [Faculty of Fine Arts](https://www.uvic.ca/finearts/index.php), with additional support from the Faculty of Science and the Office of Research Services. # Who is Eligible? This program is open to all current University of Victoria graduate students (Masters or PhD) who have completed most of their course requirements in any of the Faculty of Fine Arts units (Art History & Visual Studies, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing and the School of Music). Artists working in any visual, written, musical, or performance discipline are invited to apply to explore a variety of ocean science themes that may include:

1. Advancing deep ocean observing
2. Hot and cold vent dynamics
3. Coastal ocean
4. Natural hazards
5. Ocean soundscapes
6. Arctic observing
7. Ocean data science
8. Community-engaged ocean monitoring
9. Indigenous perspectives

## How to apply To apply, email ONC (dwowens@oceannetworks.ca) with the subject line “Ocean Artist-in-Residence Program” and attach: - artist’s CV - concise portfolio of previous relevant artistic work - letter of motivation outlining the artist’s project proposal for the residency, and - 500-word project proposal with a separate project-costs budget **The application period closes on 22 December 2023.** Applications will be reviewed by representatives of Fine Arts and ONC. Artists may be contacted for an interview or to supply further information before a decision is made. [Read more.](https://cdn.onc-prod.intergalactic.space/ONC_Artist_in_Residence_2023_call_d7590ccfd9.pdf) ## Meet our previous ONC Artists-in-Residence Since launching the Artist-in-Residence Program in 2019, ONC has hired four artists: **Neil Griffin (2023)** wrote a series of lyric essays titled *Whale Fall*, which explores the ecological stages of whale decomposition from its last breath to its incorporation into the deep-sea ecoscape. [Read more.](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/the-science-and-mystery-of-a-deep-sea-whale-fall/) **Colin Malloy (2022)** combined steelpan and electronics in an eco-acoustical work to examine the relationship between oceans, oil, and humanity. [Read more](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/meet-onc-artist-in-residence-for-2022-musician-colin-malloy/) or listen to his pieces [Oil and Water](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC6ZPVoo224) and [Reflection in Waves](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTLiP9sxbQ). **Dennis Gupa (2021)** uses the tools of theatre and drama to help bring about social change and build a sense of community to help us grapple with the impact of climate change on the world’s island nations. [Read more](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/using-theatre-and-traditional-ways-of-knowing-to-address-climate-action/) and explore his choral compilations, [“Gossip with Whales”](https://finearts.uvic.ca/research/blog/2021/09/14/onc-artist-in-residence-debuts-gossip-with-whales/). **Colton Hash (2019)** worked with ONC scientists and data specialists to create artistic visualizations from ocean data. [Read more.](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/experience-ocean-data-through-interactive-art/)

Meet ONC Artist-in-Residence for 2024, Megan Harton

Overview

> “I’m hoping to connect with ONC’s scientists and community partners to incorporate Indigenous oral histories of the waters around here and contemporary scientific knowledge.” Megan Harton Composer, audio engineer and sound artist Megan Harton will be creating an immersive and multi-sensory, intermedia art installation to express the losses people experience through environmental change, during their term as the 2024 ONC Artist-in-Residence—a partnership program involving the University of Victoria Faculty of Fine Arts and Ocean Networks Canada. Harton began their 4 month term in May 2024. The following article was written by [John Threlfall](https://finearts.uvic.ca/research/blog/author/johnt/), School of Music, University of Victoria, and republished with permission. # New ONC Artist in Residence Megan Harton is feeling solstalgiac about oceans How do we feel when the ecosystems we know and love start to vanish? What happens when our memories no longer match our physical surroundings? And what about the ecosystems we don’t see? These are the kind of questions inspiring the work of [Megan Harton](https://www.linkedin.com/authwall?trk=bf&trkInfo=AQFmGP7nhFi68QAAAY_u0XMYNSqWLcxA-zuHaNF88wULIbEbf9ACASHSXFXR-VcwzlO5QFJPG8v6VGfCnr_17OhdlTUMz9sEeAYsqVGAatlrQVIPyDrUUnnSg4R9cl9WKkkaapk=&original_referer=&sessionRedirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fmegan-harton-6837832b8%2F%3Foriginal_referer%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww%252Egoogle%252Ecom%252F%26originalSubdomain%3Dca), the latest [Ocean Networks Canada Artist-in-Residence](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/2024-artist-in-residence-program-call-for-proposals-1/). A passionate composer, audio engineer and sound artist currently pursuing a [Master’s in Music Technology](https://www.uvic.ca/finearts/music/graduate/our-programs/music-csc/index.php) at UVic’s [School of Music](https://www.uvic.ca/finearts/music/), Harton is the fifth artist-in-residence in this continuing partnership between ONC and the Faculty of Fine Arts. Their proposed project, solastalgia [soon to be what once was] is envisioned as an immersive intermedia art installation employing nostalgic retro iconography to create a multisensory experience delving into the emotional and psychological effects of environmental change. “My artistic practice is primarily about using sound technologies in artistic ways,” Harton explains. “I found that Ocean Networks Canada had all these hydrophones in the Pacific Ocean and there are new recordings every hour on the hour, both visual and audio. My main impetus was to see if there was a way to juxtapose the same recordings over a period of time, and the idea just grew from there to incorporate ideas of ecological loss and grief.”

2024 ONC Artist-in-Residence Megan Harton reflects on "solastalgia"

Overview

A composer, audio engineer, sound artist and School of Music graduate student, [Megan Harton](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/meet-onc-artist-in-residence-for-2024-megan-harton/) was the fifth artist-in-residence in this continuing partnership between Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Fine Arts. During their residency, they used their background in music technology to explore the concept of “solastalgia”: emotional distress caused by the disruption of familiar landscapes due to environmental change.