Crystal Cove Conservancy announced the exhibition Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean in partnership with Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide, an initiative with more than 70 exhibitions across southern California.
On display in Crystal Cove’s historic Cottage #46, guests will be the first to explore the new multimedia installation by environmental artists Maja Godlewska and Marek Ranis, “Mare Liberum, Reimagined” (2024) through January 19, 2025.
“We’re honored to be one of the satellite locations for this year’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide presented by Getty. Crystal Cove has always been at the crossroads of art and nature, and this installation – focused on protecting important marine habitats like those found right off the coast at Crystal Cove – presents a unique opportunity,” said Kate Wheeler, President & CEO of Crystal Cove Conservancy. “Bringing art and science together in the way Maja and Marek’s Mare Liberum, Reimagined does, allows people to understand the issues we face in protecting places like Crystal Cove State Park and the importance of protecting habitats like kelp forests in new ways.”
Mare Liberum, Reimagined combines physical, suspended elements and virtual reality components. Viewers explore the immersive installation by navigating a kelp forest maze of suspended paintings on mesh screen panels, alluding to the tangled verticality of a kelp grove. Among the paintings hang several virtual reality headsets presenting a series of films. The installation extends to the cottage’s exterior porch, offering a view of the Pacific Ocean.
“Maja and Marek have created a truly unique multimedia art experience that will allow guests to dive into the ocean without leaving the beach,” said Wheeler. “Mare Liberum, Reimagined is informed by the artists’ research and they pay careful attention to the science, giving visitors a chance to connect with the natural world and understand its vulnerability in new ways.”
Mare Liberum, Reimagined is one element of Transformative Currents, which examines the historical causes and ongoing effects of the cultural and environmental devastation of the Pacific Ocean and harnesses art’s potential to inspire positive ecological change, both local and planetary.
Covering nearly one-third of the earth’s surface, the Pacific Ocean is home to thousands of interconnected peoples, species, and ecosystems—all under threat from climate change, industrial pollution, and overfishing.
Works in diverse media by 21 contemporary artists and collaborative teams are organized around the theme of ocean currents, which traverse the Pacific and suggest fluidity, interconnectivity, and collective responsibility. Each project addresses a specific issue affecting the coastal environment; together, they highlight the interdependency of resources and the impact of local actions on global problems.
At a time when the health of the Pacific Ocean is in a fragile and volatile state, Transformative Currents unites art and science to raise awareness and improve coastal conditions.
In addition to the primary exhibition at Oceanside Museum of Art in Oceanside, Crystal Cove Conservancy is one of two satellite presentations of Transformative Currents alongside the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) in Costa Mesa.
Transformative Currents is curated by Cassandra Coblentz with assistant curators Aaron Katzeman and Ziying Duan.
In tandem with Transformative Currents, Crystal Cove Conservancy will present several special events in celebration of PST ART: Art & Science Collide.
PST Regional Weekend, Artist Workshop with Maja Godlewska
Saturday, Nov. 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. Registration is required for this event.
Crystal Cove Conservancy will welcome environmental artist Maja Godlewska for a special artist workshop inspired by the PST ART: Art & Science Collide exhibition Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean. Participants will join Maja on a beach exploration as they gather inspiration from kelp blades before creating their own piece of environmental art.
PST Regional Weekend: A Roundtable Discussion with Transformative Currents: Art and Action in The Pacific Ocean Artist & Collaborators
Sunday, Nov. 3 from 1 to 3 p.m. Registration is required for this event.
Crystal Cove Conservancy’s President & CEO will facilitate a roundtable discussion with environmental artist Maja Godlewska; marine biologist and Founder of Get Inspired Nancy Caruso; and Senior Scientist at the USC Wrigley Institute and Co-Founder of Holdfast Aquaculture, LLC, Diane Kim as they speak about the multimedia installation Mare Liberum, Reimagined as part of this year’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide exhibition Transformative Currents: Art and Action in The Pacific Ocean.
PST ART: Art & Science Collide and public programming at Crystal Cove is generously supported by Bank of America.
PST ART is a groundbreaking cultural collaboration. Every five years, PST ART unites hundreds of artists around a single, electrifying theme at more than 70 exhibition spaces. While the theme is different each time, the heart of PST ART is always the distinctive cultural identity of southern California, and the universal hunger for artistic and intellectual discovery.
For more information about Transformative Currents at Crystal Cove, visit www.CrystalCove.org/Events.
To learn more about PST ART, visit www.pst.art.
About Crystal Cove Conservancy: Crystal Cove Conservancy works to protect the historic, natural, and cultural resources of Crystal Cove State Park. Our unique public/private partnership with California State Parks means that all revenue raised is reinvested into programs that use the park as an outdoor classroom for STEM education. These programs will cultivate our planet’s next generation of environmental stewards, ensuring that Crystal Cove and places like it live on for generations. For more information, visit www.CrystalCove.org.
About PST ART: Art & Science Collide: The latest edition of Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART, returns with more than 70 exhibitions from museums and other institutions across the region, all exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. Dozens of cultural, scientific, and community organizations will join the latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, with exhibitions on subjects ranging from ancient cosmologies to Indigenous sci-fi, and from environmental justice to artificial intelligence. Art & Science Collide will share groundbreaking research, create indelible experiences for the public, and generate new ways of understanding our complex world. PST ART is presented by Getty.
For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit www.pst.art.
