Abstract
2019 and 2021 Artists-at-Sea Alyson Ogasian and Shona Kitchen joined scientists during the Designing the Future 1 and Designing the Future 2 expeditions on the R/V Falkor. They recently teamed up for a new, generative, long research project; “Networked Gyres” is a multimedia installation and research that weaves together the story of Cape Cod's rapidly changing coastline through the eyes of a fictional island.
Born from a residency at Cape Cod National Seashore, this project captures a landscape in constant flux — where rising seas carve new shorelines, species migrate to unfamiliar waters, and the very ground beneath our feet shifts with each storm. The work transforms these dramatic ecological changes into a meditation on how human technology and marine life become increasingly entangled in our warming world.
The artists trace connections between fishing nets hauled from local waters, the historic Marconi radio towers that first linked continents, seal vocalizations echoing through the depths, satellites streaking overhead, and the underwater cables that carry our digital lives across ocean floors. By layering cutting-edge research on seal and shark migration patterns with aerial surveillance footage and remote sensing data, “Networked Gyres” reveals how our technological infrastructure both mirrors and disrupts the ancient migration routes of Cape Cod's marine inhabitants.
The artist duo has longstanding collaborative practices as artists, researchers, and educators. Stay tuned for more information about their new piece and explore "Another Twilight Zone,” created from their time on Falkor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9yngDHFbjg