Oceanic Journey
May 2023
Conceived by Professor Courtney Gaston
Student Designers: Romy Beckham ’25, Joaquina Guevara ’23, Henry Owens ’25, Sarah Schlosberg ’25
This immersive experience served as the Mainstage Theater Department project for Spring 2023. We sought to create a physical and sensory experience to connect people with the abstract reality of plastic pollution in the ocean. We collected piles and piles of trash from around the school which we creatively integrated into the walls constructed of studs and chicken wire.
I was tasked with creating the kelp sculpture at the entrance to the experience. It was made of addressable LEDs strung through tubes covered in dyed coffee filters. It was programmed using Arduino. The initial intention was to make it reactive, and I was able to successful program that with a vibration sensor in a lab environment. However, after installation in the final exhibit, they were not reliable enough to work with a participatory audience, so I pivoted my code last minute to run on a loop withour reacting to sensors.