press release

Elizabeth Ogilvie offers us experiences rather than images. She is an environmental artist working with a fusion of art/science, producing poetic experiential installations using water and video as her main media and research focus. Robert Page is an artist-filmmaker whose work blurs the boundaries between documentary filmmaking and fine art, often exploring human activity, both positive and negative, in and on the environment.

Currently artists in residence at Dept of Geography & Sustainability, University of St Andrews, Ogilvie & Page have been working together for over 20 years and collaborating for nearly 10 years on cutting-edge commissions, films and artworks which reiterate their shared environmental convictions, engaging audiences in a dialogue concerning our environment.

At a fundamental level, marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet, with every second breath we take generated by the ocean. Kelp forests, seagrass meadows and saltmarshes, amongst other ocean environments - our so-called blue carbon habitats - represent significant opportunities to offer a nature-based solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change, whilst providing invaluable havens for marine life.

CONVERSATION WITH OUR OCEAN, a visceral meditation on such ecosystems recorded in Atlantic and north-sea waters, celebrates some of our greatest weapons to combat the climate crisis by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and proposes the vision of a dynamic collaboration for us all with the ocean – our revered partner.

The research and science underpinning this body of work has 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 & philosophical concepts. The rewilding and preservation of our ocean is at the heart of all Ogilvie and Page do, producing work that engenders hope and positive thinking regards our relationship with the world’s ocean.

Working between creative documentary and the imaginary, the artists create films and immersive installations that explore deep time and invisible systems.

In the cavernous interior of the Dissection Room in Summerhall and inspired by the work of world leading marine scientists and colleagues, Ogilvie & Page will transform the space with an ambitious immersive installation, comprising semi-abstract video projections, digital prints and text works. During the exhibition, large-scale outdoor video projections of semi-abstracted blue carbon ecosystems will be projected onto prominent public buildings throughout Edinburgh.

Professor and author Andrew Patrizio, Edinburgh College of Art, will produce a text for the illustrated exhibition hand-out. Andrew specialises in contemporary Scottish visual culture, cross-disciplinary projects involving art, ecology, politics and ethics.

Talks & Events

A series of public talks will take place in the adjoining Histology Lab at Summerhall during the 17th & 18th October including Prof Tim Ingold anthropologist and author, Sarah Clark Orbital Marine marketing and media manager, Prof William Austin, Chairman Blue Carbon Scotland, Prof David Patterson, Scottish Oceans Institute and Dr Alasdair O’Dell, SAMS.

Workshops

Katie Fowlie art specialist, educator and beachcomber will develop workshops for young people to be delivered on both days, exploring the theme of blue carbon and ocean-based systems.

CONVERSATION WITH OUR OCEAN is generously funded and supported by:

Creative Scotland
Summerhall Arts
University of St Andrews
EcoArt