Multimedia artist Doug Aitken has produced a lot of impressive work over the years, including video art, sculpture, massive installations, and a train-based mobile art “happening” featuring rock star Patti Smith. His latest sculpture project, Underwater Pavilions, is his weirdest, and most fascinating yet.
Aitken’s underwater pavilions are three dodecagonal, mirror-lined structures that he built and submerged in a dive park near California’s Catalina Island. This project, produced by Parley for the Oceans and MOCA Los Angeles, attempts to synthesize art and science by creating a kaleidoscopic underwater observatory, through which the viewer can watch the rhythm of the ocean and its life cycle. It also provides a space for sea life to observe and interact with itself.
Each structure is meant to be viewed underwater by swimmers, snorkelers, or scuba divers, and each will undoubtedly change as the water and sea life interact with them. In fact, that’s kind of the point.
“The moment the first pavilion entered the water, it stopped being a sculpture for me,” Aitken told The New York Times. “It became this living system—constantly in flux, constantly changing.”
Underwater Pavilions opens to the public on December 4, 2016. For more information on the project, click here. Below, watch a 360-degree video from produced by the Times, exploring the installation (mobile/iPad users must open the video in the YouTube app for the full effect).
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
