Blue Dreams: Rebecca Rutstein and the Ocean Memory Project (2023)

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CULTURAL March 15 – September 15, 2023 NAS Building, Upstairs Gallery PROGRAMS OF 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W. THE NATIONAL Washington, D.C. ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Blue Dreams Rebecca Rutstein and the Ocean Memory Project 

Introduction This immersive video installation is inspired by the seep systems, and the interplay of microbial networks intricate workings of microbial networks in the deep with large-scale ecological processes. Skalak, a sea and beyond. From abstract imagery to stunning bioengineer, provided conceptual vision and insight into undersea video footage and computer modeling, it methods for abstracting the data into system models, offers a glimpse into the interconnections and resilience including agent-based simulations that could provoke of our planet’s smallest yet most vital living systems. visualization of swarm and collective behaviors. Peirce- Blue Dreams flows between micro and macro worlds to Cottler, professor of biomedical engineering at the portray geologic processes at play with microbial and University of Virginia, created agent-based models of planetary webs of interactivity. Microbes are essential deep-sea microbial growth patterns generated from to the functioning of the Earth: they produce the air we color patterns of original Rutstein paintings on the breathe, regulate biogeochemical cycles, and are the same subject. And multi-disciplinary artist Rutstein origins of life on our planet. researched, synthesized, abstracted, and layered Created by multidisciplinary artist Rebecca Rutstein imagery, animation, video, and sound to create in collaboration with a team of scientists, Blue Dreams Blue Dreams. is a testament to the profound impact that microbial networks have on a global scale. This installation offers This exhibition was organized by Cultural Programs of a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the the National Academy of Sciences. interconnectedness and sublimeness of the natural world. Generous support was provided by Schmidt Ocean Blue Dreams was created by artist Rutstein in Institute. collaboration with Rika Anderson, Samantha (Mandy) Joye, Shayn Peirce-Cottler and Tom Skalak through a grant from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) Ocean Memory Project. The Ocean Memory Project is a transdisciplinary group who believe Additional support provided by Nancy Rabalais, Jody that the ocean and its inhabitants are an interconnected Deming, and Richard Lenski. system with agency and memory, where environmental changes are recorded through genetic and epigenetic Cover photo by Kevin Allen Photo. processes within organisms and through dynamic processes within the ocean structure itself. Blue Dreams evolved through a year-long collaboration between its five contributors. Anderson, an environmental microbiologist at Carleton College, advised on marine microbial adaptation and resilience, microbial gene sharing networks, and the implications for exoplanet science and astrobiology. Joye, a marine biogeochemist at University of Georgia and explorer of diverse deep-sea environments, provided insight into the biogeochemistry of vent and CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Blue Dreams THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Blue Dreams Rebecca Rutstein and the Ocean Memory Project 2023 Installation photos of the 2 minute and 40 second digital video Photos by Kevin Allen Photo. 

Co-Creative Art-Science and the Origins of Blue Dreams By Tom Skalak Art and science have long been intertwined. Only in recent generations, with the advent and deepening specialization of experts in all fields, have they been drawn apart. Blue Dreams brings art and science together. Five centuries ago, in Albrecht Dürer’s 1514 masterwork engraving Melencolia I, the technically- trained artist and observer of the rapidly advancing scientific world could be seen as creatively embracing the empiricism of science and simultaneously offering the imagination of art to the rational world. Today, works of art and science can again provide a unifying social force, particularly when inspired by the remaining facets of the natural world. Our ability to fully model or understand our planet’s ecosystems with data science is still very limited, offering compelling opportunities for the next generation of ocean and life scientists while also inviting artistic responses to make visible the unseen Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), Melencolia I, 1514, undersea realm. engraving, 9.4 x 7.3 inches. Beyond this element of the unknown and sheer wonder, even awe in the presence of the sublime needs empathetic understanding to sustain human and complexity of life in our oceans - the building of multi- natural communities into the future. way interconnections from the smallest microbial Because people came together who shared different species up to the top of the ocean food chain offers professional skills but found a common vision and ideas us a model of our interconnected human society, that matter. The essential magic of co-creation. suggesting solace for any individual viewer feeling their own insignificance, through this glimpse of secular Each co-creator of Blue Dreams also had transcendence in ocean memory. personal reasons to share in the vision and the One hope of the collaborating Blue Dreams group is creative process. I participated in the original 2015 to inspire unity among all people through their shared National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) felt empathy with the long reach and ubiquitous human gathering and the session at which the poetic term bonds of ocean memories, and perhaps to cause people “Ocean Memory” was created. Having created prior to lift their eyes and thoughts to the stars, among which works of art-science and curated artist-scientist lie untold other worlds and likely ecosystems of life. collaborations, I had the frame of mind to recognize a truly shared vision and to help visually articulate the Why was Blue Dreams created? final form of the work, welcoming passionate partners to share ideas freely and co-create it. The spark of mutual Because oceans are the cradle of life on our blue attraction for me to work with Rebecca Rutstein and planet, a reservoir of remaining mysteries of the deep vice versa was that we clearly shared a predilection, as that resist human experience and storytelling to this day. Rebecca would say, “for finding brightness and positive, Oceans are the final frontier of our planet and one that resilient approaches to the world and for taking action, CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

Doug Aitken, SONG 1, 2012, installation view: 360-degree facade of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Courtesy of the Artist, 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Victoria Miro, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles. Photo by Brian Doyle. doing something.” I’ve had a lifelong affinity for the explorers. As an artist, she is committed to connecting sea. I also attended the opening night exhibition of people with the natural world to create empathy for SONG 1 with artist Doug Aitken (who also attended it, inspiring them to positive behaviors and actions. NAKFI in 2015), and was inspired by his use of Mandy Joye is an experienced marine ecologist and monumental displays of moving images and sound on had collaborated with Rebecca on prior voyages, the exterior surfaces of the circular Hirshhorn Museum in leading to works of visual art by Rebecca. Mandy was Washington, D.C. Viewers of that work were enthralled a core element of the group’s work, in providing not by the power of the visual work, sound, and interactions only original footage of the microbial mats on the ocean with neighboring public spaces and transient passers-by. floor, thermal vent dynamics, and other oceanic scenes, SONG 1 was a foundational reference for this group’s but in periodic discussions of the mechanistic basis of conception of a monumental video work of art-science the visual phenomena that we were abstracting and that would capture the magic of the deep blue sea. capturing in the work. Rika Anderson teaches about Rebecca had previously created a series of abstract microbial networks and astrobiology and provided visual art works at monumental scale reaching diverse inspiration to the group to think about connections from and large audiences in urban as well as in reflective our planet’s smallest denizens to the possible forms rural sites. She had worked with paint and interactive of life on other worlds. Shayn Peirce-Cottler is a world installations with sculpture and light, but never with leader in visual displays of agent-based computer moving images, and was attracted as an exploratory modeling of interacting cells and living systems, which creative to this new format. Having been on ocean are embedded in the final work. Across each of these voyages and deep dives, she had a long-standing discussions, the group agreed to a level of abstraction connection to hidden systems and processes on both that would free us from explicit documentary realism land and sea. Rebecca was an Artist at Sea on the R/V and allow the work to elicit awe through abstraction. Falkor in 2016 and part of Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Blue Dreams offered “newness” outside all of the ongoing traveling exhibitions, most recently in Portugal. members’ professional careers, via the process of co- So it was natural for her to become involved with an creating within a diverse group of people. This path did idea for depicting the awe experienced by deep ocean not follow the more common process of scientists doing CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

science and being observed by or providing data and seeks novel creative visions of a phenomena they’ve images to artists. The co-creative process started with encountered for the first time, that requires abstraction, a shared feeling that this could really be something, or that resists traditional elucidation. They create new then extensive group discussions of possible content tools, new ways of looking, and new ways of seeing and physical manifestation of the vision, and finally the nature and reality. In the end, artists and scientists both placing of paint to paper and pixels to the screen. use all facets of our human capacity to see, to reflect, and to act on a new vision of the mind and heart. Artists’ Group Statement - by the Five Artists In Blue Dreams, the “scientists” took the visual and Five Scientists artwork to places an artist couldn’t have created alone, and the “artists” saw ocean life in new ways, “Blue Dreams is a work of visual art, with sound and even provoking new scientific questions about the video components, that captures abstract ideas about controlling variables for microbial life in the ocean. This living systems, designs, and dynamics in the oceans. was a highly synergistic process, in which ideas were United by a sense of optimism and faith in the frequently exchanged in multiple directions. Within this resilience and adaptability of the ocean, we created a process, Rebecca Rutstein is a scientist, and Shayn work of art for video projection that can reach a vast Peirce-Cottler is an artist. audience and inspire a sense of the sublime. The video If there is one enduring impact of Blue Dreams, projection is synthesized from abstracted imagery, perhaps it would be the human realization that we all deep sea video footage, and agent-based modeling harbor and engage elements of art and science in our that portrays the sheer magnitude of marine microbial lives and work throughout our lifetime, everywhere networks and the role they play in ocean memory and on earth. Even in the fast-moving world of AI (artificial mediating complex processes in the deep sea, on our intelligence) today, the primacy of “options discovery” planet, and across the universe. Through beauty and a – deciding what to do next, out of infinite algorithmic dynamic portrayal of our oceans and its microworlds on possibilities – is clear and perceived to be of high value. a macroscale, utilizing moving images and technical/ An art-science team will likely help define this issue. design animations that reveal the complexity, colors, In schools and in our increasingly “expertise-based” and connectivity of marine microbial networks, the work work lives, this realization might help usher in an era of presents a compelling and abstract visual narrative to more equitable engagement with the planet’s resources, generate awe and empathy. By bridging art and science, enhanced human dignity for all people, sustainable co- the work inspires and educates. By connecting humanity existence of human and natural communities, with the ocean using the evocative metaphor of memory, and reduced conflict across the world. we foster a dialogue about ocean conservation in the face of human impacts, including climate change.” Creating a Template for an NAS Exhibit with There is a long tradition of arts being seen as the Wide Cultural Influence creative, intuitive, and non-analytical side of human creation, while science, engineering, and design Because Blue Dreams stems from a National are viewed as being analytical, machine-like, rote, Academies program and would enable new exhibition mathematical, and otherwise devoid of qualitative capabilities in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) decisions and creativity. Nothing could be further from building, J.D. Talasek, director of Cultural Programs at reality. Every morning, an artist and a scientist must the NAS, championed the exhibit and also envisioned do the same thing – decide how to spend their day. A that the construction of this immersive video/sound wall blank canvas is not filled with a masterpiece in a single would enable diverse future exhibits at the NAS. These stroke, rather the artist wends their meandering way to might deal with climate science, the impact of AI and the final work by solving problems small and large until digital media on art-science projects, complex physical a final vision emerges. In like manner, the scientist, phenomena such as fluid dynamics, new materials for coder, or engineer, in similarly solving problems, often the clean energy transition, or exploring the Arctic to name only a few possibilities. CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Blue Dreams THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Blue Dreams Rebecca Rutstein and the Ocean Memory Project 2023 Stills from the 2 minute and 40 second digital video 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Blue Dreams THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Blue Dreams Rebecca Rutstein and the Ocean Memory Project 2023 Stills from the 2 minute and 40 second digital video 

The role of a curator with vision is often under- and resources to create were invaluable to Blue estimated within the art world, as well as in the world of Dreams, and by their nature send their own message to science and engineering. Many of the most influential the world that human creativity and the oceans matter to and inspiring works of art, science, design, and art- us all. science throughout history have emerged after ideas Perhaps the ocean’s memory is getting “smarter” or and artistic possibilities were shared and interwoven “more capable” at a faster rate than the human race or by the vision of a curator. J.D. was such a visionary for than silicon systems and the internet of things. And if so, Blue Dreams and for this inaugural exhibit of the work. then our awe, empathy, and reverence for the oceans In the co-creator’s earliest discussions with him, J.D. ought to increase along with this realization. was able to see the potential of the work, encourage Echoing the concluding sentiments in The Great and inspire the group to the final instantiation of the Gatsby about the irresistible attraction of a vast video creation, and work hand in hand with the creators continent, the co-creating group collectively felt the pull to build the envisioned immersive interior exhibition of ocean memory and mystery. Early in the exchange of space needed to convey the power of the oceans at project ideas, we wrote: an effective visual scale. So this group of artists and “For all of enchanted history, people must have held scientists, in reality, was a team of six, including the their breath in the presence of the ocean, compelled visionary co-creative role of J.D. into an aesthetic contemplation they neither understood Evolving technology necessitates the need for even nor desired, face to face then, now, and for all of the more collaboration. Drew Doucette and Adam Hager, uncertain future with something commensurate to our with expertise in art video and time-based media, capacity for wonder.” provided the technical guidance and worked alongside J.D. and Rebecca to transform a traditional gallery space -------- into an immersive environment, and ensure that the scaled-up visual imagery preserved the original intention. Tom Skalak, Ph.D., is a science strategist, biomedical Another highly enabling feature of this realized engineer, writer, and artist. He is the co-creator of Blue art-science work is the freedom to create and explore Dreams. Tom was the founding Executive Director of which was made possible by the NAKFI vision and the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group with the Microsoft the Deep Blue Sea meeting in 2016, led by NAKFI co-founder, is Vice President for Research Emeritus director Kimberly Suda-Blake, experienced art-science at the University of Virginia, and currently serves as creative David Edwards, by the continuing support Senior Advisor to the Founders at the Joe and Clara for the Blue Dreams team’s vision by members of the Tsai Foundation. His sculptural work “Watch.” is on Ocean Memory co-leadership group and advisors, permanent exhibit at the private Djerassi Ranch in including Jody Deming (a member of the NAS and Woodside, CA. Tom has logged over 10,000 hours in a lifelong ocean scientist who has hosted ocean art the Pacific and Atlantic oceans over four decades. exhibitions at the oceanographic center at University of Washington) and Margot Knight (an experienced curator of art-science creatives), and by the visionary support of ocean exploration and this Blue Dreams work of art-science by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, including founders Eric and Wendy Schmidt. These gifts of time CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Artist at Sea Series THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Artist at Sea Series Rebecca Rutstein Multidisciplinary artist Rebecca Rutstein created the Artist at Sea paintings as an artist in residence during several expeditions at sea including aboard the R/V Falkor sailing from Vietnam to Guam, the R/V Atlantis in the Guaymas Basin, and the R/V Rachel Carson in the Salish Sea. On each voyage, she set up a makeshift art studio and collaborated with scientists, working with satellite, multi beam sonar mapping, or marine microbial data being collected. Separate from the Blue Dreams exhibition, the National Academy of Sciences has acquired these 12 paintings for its permanent art collection. During her residencies Rutstein also recorded the ship’s motion by pouring paint and allowing the heave, pitch, and roll to influence its dispersion on the canvas. These expeditions have been invaluable opportunities for cross pollination and synergy between artists and scientists, who are both keen observers and share a curiosity about the world around them. For over twenty years, Rutstein has created painting, sculpture, interactive installation, and public art inspired Rebecca Rutstein emerging from the Alvin submersible. by the natural world. She has been an artist in residence on seven expeditions at sea and two dives to the ocean floor in the Alvin submersible. Her collaborations with Through visual and immersive experiences, her work oceanographers, ecologists, microbiologists, molecular sheds light on the places and processes that are often scientists, and geologists gives her a unique perspective hidden from view, to foster a deeper connection with and broad view of the interconnectedness of systems in nature, and inspire wonder, empathy, and stewardship in the natural world. the face of our climate crisis. 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Artist at Sea Series THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES From left to right, top to bottom: Guaymas Basin Series I, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Guaymas Basin Series VI, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Guaymas Basin Series VII, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Guaymas Basin Series VIII, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Artist at Sea Series THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES From left to right, top to bottom: Plume III, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Salish Sea Series III, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Salish Sea Series VI, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Plume II, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches 

CULTURAL PROGRAMS OF Artist at Sea Series THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES From left to right, top to bottom: Salish Sea Series X, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Salish Sea Series I, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Salish Sea Series VII, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches Salish Sea Series XI, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 18 inches