An immersive ocean twilight zone exhibit opens in Washington, DC
ARTECHOUSE and WHOI collaboration transports you to a hidden layer of the ocean
BY HANNAH PIECUCH | OCTOBER 3, 2024
An experiential exhibit called “TWILIGHT ZONE: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean” at ARTECHOUSE in Washington, DC, is a journey into a world of immersive video, original music, interactive technology, and extended reality, all drawn from science that is the focus of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Ocean Twilight Zone Project.
The exhibit, developed in collaboration with WHOI, stars the abundant and diverse life that flourishes in this vast, yet hard-to-reach region of the ocean where sunlight starts to disappear — between 200 and 1,000 meters (600 and 3,000 feet) below the surface.
In a venue just steps from the National Mall, the exhibit is anchored by a color-saturated video in 270-degree projection on 28-foot-high walls. It takes visitors from the surface ocean filled with phytoplankton then follows the billions of creatures on their daily migration into the twilight zone.
Scale is playfully shifted and the color palate of the dark ocean reimagined. Microscopic diatoms magnified to the size of stained-glass windows gleam in shades of green and yellow as they photosynthesize at the sea surface. An enlarged strawberry squid appears to wrap its tentacles around the theater, squeezing tighter and tighter, in such lifelike detail that the viewer can see the bedazzled texture of its skin and the motion of its suction cups. Later, life-sized whale sharks appear to traverse the space.
“The number one thing I hope people take away from this exhibit is an awareness of one of the biggest habitats on our planet,” said Heidi Sosik, OTZ’s lead scientist and biologist at WHOI. “Most people have never heard of the ocean twilight zone, but it’s incredibly important to the health of the ocean and it helps regulate the climate of our whole planet.”
For Emmett Feldman, art director for the exhibit and creator of the immersive video, working with WHOI scientists and exploring the imagery captured and created during the twilight zone project were central to how the exhibit was developed.
“We had these deep dives every week with the scientists, and learned about the individual research they are doing,” he said. “Their level of professionalism and dedication inspired us to make an exhibit that would be good in their eyes, and that was a very special challenge.”
WHOI’s collaboration with ARTECHOUSE comes after six years of scientific study and public outreach by the Ocean Twilight Zone Project. All of this work prepared the scientists to collaborate with artists at this high-profile scale.
“We have invested in storytelling from the beginning,” said OTZ Project Manager Kathryn Baltes. “This exhibit has given us the opportunity to push the boundaries of science communication in ways that our team wouldn’t have imagined six years ago.”
Since opening in Washington, the TWILIGHT ZONE exhibit has welcomed thousands of visitors. ARTECHOUSE reports that it has received a 90 percent positive exit rating from visitors, their highest yet in a decade of creating immersive art and science exhibits.
Back in Woods Hole, MA, the OTZ science team and their WHOI colleagues are thrilled with how it turned out.
“What I love about the exhibit is the way it conveys that feeling of beauty we, as scientists, have come to know,” said Sosik after experiencing the opening night. “Even if you’ve never heard of the twilight zone before, you’ll now feel curious about it. The intricate beauty, the colors, the designs — it just inspires a feeling of awe.”
Tickets for the exhibit are available through November 19, 2024.