“Seas & Oceans”: An interactive, immersive science-art exhibition for communicating science and educating the public

Science-inspired art has recently gained momentum as an effective communication tool for educating the public about scientific topics, benefiting from the intrinsic abilities of art to reach a broad audience, convey ideas in novel ways, and inspire on a deep, emotional level.  An upcoming science-art exhibition furthers this concept by offering an immersive, interactive experience to the public. Titled Seas & Oceans, the two-month event seeks to educate and inspire the public about the environment, climate change, sustainability, biodiversity, and related topics through a variety of activities:

• 1) an art exhibition containing artwork produced by collaborations between scientist and artist pairings,
• 2) scientific talks given to the public by scientists from a range of disciplines,
• 3) workshops for local schools and children’s organizations,
• 4) informal chats between scientists and the public through a “Science Café”, and
• 5) other interactive performances and activities.

Serving as the scientific coordinator of the event, I will present the strategies used to prepare the event, challenges faced in its organization, feedback from scientists and artists about their collaborations, and methods / performance indicators used to gauge its success in educating the public and energizing interest in the associated scientific topics.