bonn, germany

DAS ESSZIMMER
JANUARY—FEBRUARY 2025

As a new phase in this environmental project fostering hope, Ogilvie & Page launched CONVERSATION WITH OUR OCEAN. This project aims to raise awareness and inspire action regarding the critical role of our oceans in tackling the climate emergency. Ogilvie, known for her experiential installations using water and video, and Page, whose work explores the intersection of documentary filmmaking and fine art with a focus on human impact on the environment, have been working together for over 20 years and collaborating for nearly 10. Their joint commissions, films, and artworks underscore their shared environmental convictions and engage audiences in crucial dialogues about environmental issues.

Since embarking upon INTO THE OCENIC, Ogilvie & Page have collaborated with leading scientists at The Scottish Oceans Institute. Phase one of the project featured public events and large-scale video projections during the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. The artists’ work is built upon the understanding that oceans hold key solutions to the climate crisis. Blue carbon ecosystems, including kelp forests, plankton, seagrass, and salt marshes, play a vital role in carbon sequestration. This was the focus of the first of this year’s exhibitions, at Das Esszimmer in Bonn.

dumfries, scotland

THE STANDARD, MIDSTEEPLE QUARTER
MARCH—APRIL 2025

This iteration of the project focussed in on the link between scientific knowledge with the knowledge of inhabitants. At the core of CONVERSATION WITH OUR OCEAN is the knowledge that the ocean holds solutions to help tackle the climate emergency. Kelp forests together with plankton, comprise roughly half the organic matter on Earth, and produce approx. half the Earth’s oxygen. Seagrass can store carbon at a rate up to 35 times greater than rainforests, and salt marshes store carbon at a rate about 50 times more than terrestrial forests.

This science has the potential for huge positive change in the world, but without the public having knowledge of its capacity there is little motivation to act. Art by its very nature can encourage this agency and inclusion and is invaluable at communicating often complex cultural and philosophical concepts.

The artists were delighted to receive a funding award in late 2024 from EcoArt Trust based in Dumfries & Galloway where they knew they would be able to research and film some of the country’s key carbon sequestering coastal ecosystems. A significant proportion of Scotland’s salt-marsh habitat is on this coast.

Ogilvie & Page are currently artists in residence at the Research Centre for Blue Carbon, University of St Andrews, and their long-term collaborators there frequently research the salt-marshes, kelp forests and seagrass meadows along this coastline.

The artists worked closely with EcoArt Trust, local inhabitants and scientist collaborators to create new and unique works that explore, share and celebrate these important, seminal coastal systems. A period of research and investigation directly in the landscape involving filming and photographing these areas was followed by an intense period of editing and digital manipulation of this material. The resulting work comprises multiple large-scale video projections and experimental printed digital images, which were exhibited in March and April 2025.

kyoto, japan

ART SPOT KORIN
MAY—JUNE 2025

The duo’s recent exhibition at Art Spot Korin offered a contemplative space in which the sea was explored through immersive installation alongside both still and moving image works. A new collection of fine-art prints was presented – created specifically for the exhibition. These prints extend the themes of the installation into a more intimate scale, capturing fleeting qualities of light, movement, and atmosphere drawn from the artists’ time working along riverbanks and coastlines. Together, the prints and installations formed a layered, sensory experience, both poetic and urgent in its message.