An experimental immersion in the near future of the oceans, Hollow Oceans is a sculptural installation in six chapters. The giant specimens suspended in water inside towering transparent columns convey serious ecological problems such as plastic pollution, acidification, extinction, climate crisis, overfishing and oil extraction through a loose and playful narrative structure that offers a look into a speculative future in which living forms have undergone transmutation. Each vertical column represents a glimpse at shifting ocean ontologies. “Plastic Ocean” looks at the material invasion of aquatic life with man made synthetic polymers. “Dark Ocean” describes the darkest depths of the ocean floor where deep-sea prospecting and drilling projects pursue the extraction of oil. “Phantom Ocean” presents the devastating ecological consequences of phantom nets, lost or discarded commercial fishing gear suspended in ocean currents, where they wreak havoc on marine life. “Acid Ocean” invokes the multi-scalar effects of ocean acidification. “Stifled Ocean” raises the threat of the slowing of ocean currents and the reduction of thermohaline circulation. The final chapter, “Hollow Ocean,” represents the totality of anthropogenic drivers of climate change, and meditates on emergent ocean futures.
