ISABELLA SAMUELSSON

It is often said that we have got a better understanding of the surface of the moon than we have about our own ocean, and especially of the ocean floor. Only about fifteen percent of the ocean floor is mapped with a better resolution than 1000m.

For this project I decided to do research about how the ocean is being mapped and what the reasons and benefits are for this. I wanted to do an interactive workshop where the audience is taken on a journey down to the deepest part of the ocean; the Challenger Deep.

The workshop will start at sea level, talking about how deep the ocean is and how we could measure the depth. Then they will try to map a small part of the ocean using the old method, using a rope, but will soon realise the inaccuracy of the method. They will then start their journey down through the ocean. On the way down, they will meet characters inspired by creatures inhabiting different levels of the sea. At the ocean floor it will be dark and hard to see, but after they have been doing some different kinds of experiments and learning more about multi-sonar mapping the ocean floor will be lit up like a bathymetric map. The experiments would be interactive and educational, teaching them about the advantages that we will get with mapping the ocean, such as the knowledge about tectonic plates and how knowing about that can predict earthquakes and tsunamis.

My costumes are made of recycled materials, things that were broken and trash. They are inspired by different creatures from the ocean, different styles of maps, explorers and divers. The costume I made is made of recycled bicycle inner tubes and an broken umbrella.