LASER talk, UC Santa Cruz, with Ari Friedlaender

Public lecture (online) as part of the international LASER series. WATCH HERE

How does global climate change and the pandemic effect ocean life? And how can we understand more about the underwater environment? Artist Yolande Harris and ocean scientist Ari Friedlaender explore the worlds of whales in the deep ocean, questioning how we can learn about this inaccessible environment guided by the animals in it. In the video installation From a Whale’s Back, visitors experience the underwater world inhabited by orcas, humpbacks and minke whales, from the viewpoint of scientific data-gathering tags placed on the backs of the animals. In a new project, the relative absence of human sound in the Monterey Bay during the pandemic shutdown may give a window into stress levels of whales, asking us to consider how our human activity effects ocean life.

13 October 2020, 5:30-6:30pm PST