Weather and the Whale is a major exhibition project featuring immersive displays of original science research and newly commissioned contemporary artworks. Establishing novel modes of working at the intersections of art and science to connect people to the impacts of climate change, the project brings leading artists into collaboration with marine ecologists at the Friedlaender Lab at UC Santa Cruz.

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The title of the exhibition reflects the roles that both weather and whales take as indicators of climate change. Just as changing weather patterns indicate broader climate shifts, whale health is an indicator of broader ecological health in a rapidly changing life. Presented across the three galleries and the screening room at the IAS, Weather and the Whale includes new research and data developed through two years of fieldwork by the Friedlaender Lab. This data, much made public for the first time, delves into the impacts on whales and other large marine mammals of environmental toxins, sea ice retreat, and other threats, including what is happening in Monterey Bay and along California’s coast. The research about the environmental threats to ocean life provides a vantage point for the artists in the exhibition to offer aesthetic and embodied engagements with ecological threats to multiple communities. Video installations, sculptures, photography, and other artworks, most newly created for the exhibition, provide novel and experiential ways of seeing and understanding the human and nonhuman experiences of living in times of climate crisis– and to imagine global climate justice across land and ocean. With a deep commitment to education, Weather and the Whale fosters dialogue between the arts and sciences to create the networks of learning, solidarity, and action required by the immensity of what is happening to the planet.

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Imani Jacqueline Brown, Carolina Caycedo, Sharon Daniel, Ashley Hunt, Courtney Leonard, John Jota Leoñas, Libia Posada, Mia Eve Rollow, Christine Howard Sandoval, Suné Woods.

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Weather and the Whale is curated by Rachel Nelson, Ari Friedlaender, and Alex Moore with curatorial assistance provided by Mirra-Margarita Ianeva and LuLing Osofsky. It is organized as part of An Aesthetics of Resilience and funded by a University of California Office of the President California Climate Action Seed Grant, with additional support from the Coha Nowark Art + Science Fund.