“What if you could experience the Mesopelagic Zone, as a “local resident,” engaging all your senses?  What if you were a marine scientist, and could inhabit data collected over years?  What if you could spread awareness of the unique physical and biological properties of this critical yet underappreciated ecosystem through embodied practice?”

The Mesopelagic zone of the ocean is also known as “The Twilight Zone” and was the focus of the trans-disciplinary 2016 National Academies Keck Futures Initiative “Deep Blue Sea” conference. Our team received a grant to create an immersive multi-sensory dramatic experience to get in tune with the creatures and environment of the twilight zone.

Our first installation was completed at Woods Hole in 2017. These are some images depicting the event, created by Dr. Eleanor Gates Stuart.

impel body_lights
impel smell
impel sound_direction_experiment

Plans are in progress for further installations. Please contact us if interested.

IMPel The Immersive Mesopelagic Performance Lab – Core Team (in alphabetical order)

  • Artist: Lisa D’amour, Playwright /Interdisciplinary Artist. (US) Finalist for both the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Past recipient of the Alpert Award for the Arts, the Steinberg Playwright Award, and is a 2013 Doris Duke Artist
  • Artist: Dr Eleanor Gates-Stuart, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong and Visiting Research Scholar: Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS), Australian National University, Visual Media artist whose focus is primarily on scientific exploration and technology (AUS).
  • Scientist: Dr Steven Haddock, Senior Scientist / Marine Biologist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (US), Adjunct Professor: University of California, Santa Cruz.
  • Scientist: Dr Larry Pratt, Senior Scientist / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (US)
  • Scientist/Artist: Dr Heather Spence, Marine Biologist, Musician. Heather Spence uses science and art to harmonize human-environment interactions.
  • Scientist: Dr Karen Wishner, Professor of Oceanography / University of Rhode Island (US)