Deep Shift: Into the Ocean Opening Symposium

Session 1: Sensing the Ocean

Speakers: Magdalena Magiera (Senior Manager of Exhibitions at ArtScience Museum), Professor Tit Meng Lim (APAC Regional Executive Director of OceanX Education), Dr. Karenne Tun (Group Director of the National Biodiversity Centre at National Parks Board), Dr. Huang Danwei (Director of Centre of Excellence for Marine Science), Dr. Tan Koh Siang (Head of Marine Biology and Ecology Laboratory at Tropical Marine Science Institute), Eugene Wambeck (Director of Exhibitions & Galleries at Science Centre Singapore), Kay Vasey (Director of Immersive & Digital Experiences at OceanX Education) and Astri Noorbaini (Assistant Manager, Marine, Conservation & Science at WWF Singapore)

This session traces how marine environments are made legible through intersecting ecological, scientific and curatorial practices, and how these modes of understanding shape the ways the ocean is studied and cared for. It considers how different forms of attention reveal the ocean as a vast, non-linear system shaped by both material processes and interpretive frameworks.

• Magdalena Magiera introduces Into the Ocean as an exhibition framework that bridges scientific research and artistic inquiry into ocean ecosystems.

• Professor Tit Meng Lim presents OceanX’s work and outlines the ecological stakes of ocean research.

• Convening a cross-sector panel from the Centre of Excellence for Marine Science, NParks, OceanX Education, Science Centre Singapore, Tropical Marine Science Institute and WWF Singapore, World Ocean Day Special Convening: Why the Ocean Matters to All gathers perspectives from Singapore’s marine science and conservation communities to reflect on how ocean literacy, public engagement and collective stewardship might shape more sustainable marine futures.

3.55pm – 6pm

Session 2: Reconfiguring the Ocean

Speakers: Artists Jana Winderen, Marco Barotti, Ersin Han Ersin of Marshmallow Laser Feast, Robertina Šebjanič and Lachlan Turczan, and creative technologists bit.studio

Building on ecological and scientific understandings of marine systems, this session explores how such knowledge is transformed through artistic and sensory practices. It examines how environmental data, biological processes and material phenomena are translated into spatial and experiential forms that open up new ways of engaging with the ocean.

• Jana Winderen (artist) explores underwater listening as a mode of ecological understanding that reveals how marine soundscapes register biodiversity, environmental change and the impact of human activities.
• Marco Barotti (artist) presents Coral Sonic Resilience, examining how bioacoustic research can be translated into sculptural and sonic interventions that support coral reef restoration.
• Robertina Šebjanič (artist) navigates the thresholds between hydro-ecologies, interspecies relations and environmental histories, reflecting on how aquatic worlds register the traces of human impact.
• Ersin Han Ersin (artist and director of Marshmallow Laser Feast) explores immersive and interdisciplinary approaches that translate complex environmental data into experiential forms of understanding and awareness.
• Lachlan Turczan (artist) investigates the optical and sonic properties of water, using light, fluid dynamics and perception to reveal the ocean as an energetic and continuously shifting system.
• bit.studio (creative technologists) demonstrates how environmental data can be transformed into spatial and digital experiences that make marine systems accessible to wider audiences.