Hold Fast: A New Way to Experience Kelp
Exhibition Dates:
February 8 – September 30, 2024
“Hold Fast” Birch Aquarium 2024
On February 8, 2024, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is opening Hold Fast, an immersive art installation that explores our local kelp forests and climate change through the lens of three local artists and scientists who are using their unique skills and talents to take climate action.
Guests will weave through a labyrinth of cyanotype-printed giant kelp by photo-based artist and marine scientist Oriana Poindexter, dive into the details of local species via gyotaku prints by artist Dwight Hwang and witness up-to-the-minute kelp forest mapping by Scripps Oceanography PhD student Mohammad Sedarat.
“Warming waters and giant kelp don’t mix. We have to be realistic about the outsized impact that climate change has on our local Giant Kelp forests,” said Megan Dickerson, Birch Aquarium’s Director of Exhibits and co-curator of the installation. “But at the same time, local people are doing beautiful things. This Hold Fast installation posits that the actions of local artists and scientists can give us hope that together, as a community, we can make collective change as we also acknowledge climate trauma.”
Through immersive experience and the stories of inspiring artists and scientists, Hold Fast invites us to identify how putting our talents to work in the climate crisis can bring us joy while protecting our ocean planet.