The work, in which the ICM has participated, represents an artistic and scientific journey that explores the importance of marine microbes in the Earth's climate regulation.

Scientists from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Vanessa Balagué and Pablo Sánchez, together with artists Alba G. Corral, Santi Vilanova (Playmodes), and the creative studio SHOOK Studio, which includes researchers and visual artists Marta Royo and Toni Aranda, present "Thalastasi", a digital art piece developed within the framework of the ICM-CSIC Art & Sea for Social Change Program with the support of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI) (Joan Oró Call 2024). The piece proposes an abstract vertical journey from the atmosphere to the ocean depths.
This installation reveals how the great diversity of marine microbes, invisible to the human eye, participates in regulating the planet's climate. With an innovative approach that combines art, science, and scientific dissemination, the piece invites viewers to immerse themselves in an ocean of scientific data and life that ensures planetary balance, fostering reflection on humanity's relationship with the sea and non-human species, especially in the current context of climate change.
The piece, which will premiere at the Eufònic 2024 Festival, can be seen from July 11 to 14, from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the FAB LAB Terres de l’Ebre. The official presentation will take place on July 12 at 4:00 p.m., although it will also be presented earlier, at 10:30 a.m., at the Tortosa School of Art and Culture as part of Eufònic PRO,, the professional meeting of the festival.
“With this project, we not only wanted to create an artistic piece based on scientific data, but we were also particularly interested in how knowledge could be hybridized during the process. The working methodology used in "Thalastasi" is innovative in the sense that a research and co-creation space was created between scientists and artists, where we jointly explored data, methodologies, and narratives,” explain Vanessa Balagué and Pablo Sánchez from ICM-CSIC.
The project
"Thalastasi" gives voice and visibility to marine microorganisms and their fundamental role in climate regulation and the maintenance of life on Earth. The piece follows the journey of CO2 from the atmosphere to the ocean depths, showing how carbon is metabolized by the marine microbiome until it is sequestered at the bottom of the ocean for thousands of years.
At the same time, from the metabolism of bacteria on the surface of the sea, DMS is derived, a gas responsible for the generation of clouds that reflect sunlight. Both processes are key in regulating the planet's temperature and support the Gaia Theory, where all organisms live in interdependence and enable the continuity of life on Earth. This central narrative is translated visually and sonically using generative code tools, interpreting genomic and environmental data collected in the Malaspina expedition, carried out in 2011.
Specifically, for the creation of the installation, data from the global ocean at various ocean depths were processed and interpreted, including information such as temperature, salinity, oxygen concentration, and microbial DNA. Subsequently, through a rigorous analysis process, the data was visualized and transformed into an immersive artistic experience.
The final result
The final result highlights the many benefits of collaboration between scientists and artists. The sound design recreates marine ecological environments and processes using sound synthesis engines. Piano harmonies based on the letters of DNA - G, A, T, and C - complement the work by evoking emotions. Finally, the visual design, based on data analysis, makes the invisible visible, representing metabolisms and microbial diversity in environments ranging from the photic layer, where light still reaches, to the hostility of the dark and deep ocean, the bathypelagic, where carbon sequestration processes take place.
“Waves, bubbles, liquids, gas emitters, settling particles, microorganisms, high pressures, etc. Each of these elements has been worked on individually, creating a sound synthesis model. The result is a set of instruments that, through generative processes, result in a series of "living" and unpredictable sound systems, with exotic and genuine sound,” explains artist Santi Vilanova (Playmodes).
Artist Alba G. Corral adds: “Incorporating the creative metaphor studied during the data visualization process, an oceanic imaginary has been built that explores possible behaviors in contexts of abundance and uncertainty provided by the data, recreating specific environments of each ocean depth.”
“Thalastasi has been a professional challenge because it opens new avenues for disseminating invisible and abstract scientific concepts through unconventional artistic languages. We are very satisfied with the entire process, in which we have acted as mediators between scientists and artists, serving as interpreters between the two worlds and defining a narrative that was faithful to the research results,” conclude Marta Royo and Toni Aranda, from SHOOK Studio.