What happens when conventional modes of representation fail to communicate urgency, reflect immediacy
and represent phenomena that span across vast spatial and temporal scales? How do you document change?
If scientists use instruments expand the scope of human perception to measure things that we can’t directly perceive, then art and stories expand the spectrum of feelings and experiences we can have those new discoveries. At the same time, new technology, like virtual reality, opens up possibilities for new modes of documentary and narrative experiences. New mediums create new ways of telling stories, ways that can access perspectives there were previously impossible to share. New stories create new language, which creates new culture, and we need new ways of talking to each other and talking about climate.
The axiomatic tenant of our studio is that research and communication about that research are quantumly-entangled and must inform one another at every stage of the research process. We understand that there must be a strong conceptual link between the scientific research and communication, that the communication must underscore scientific merit and scientific merit is judged on the value of the communication, that both science and communication are designed for specific, measurable impact, and both science and communication are informed by audience, venue and distribution.
Vision
Our science and storytelling studio is designed to unearth innovative approaches to climate research, communication,
action and education through cross-pollination between Art & Storytelling, Science & Research and Industry & Technology.
Mission
Our mission is to lead cutting edge scientific research that is communicated to broad audiences through
innovative and outside the box education & outreach initiatives.
Values
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The intrinsic value of art;
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Multidisciplinary teams of scientists, artists, educators and impact scholars
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Cross-pollination between art, science, industry and technology
Objectives
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A new scientific research framework at the intersection of public and private sectors of
international research & industry -
Cutting edge scientific research
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Virtual reality documentaries and Immersive installations
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Science communication consulting and production
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Impact tracking
Strategies
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Partnering with individuals & companies positioned to convene government, academia & industry
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Leading science communication workshops to generate excitement about broader impacts
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Scholarly publishing
Priorities
Funding to establish the studio
Amy Lauren is an award-winning filmmaker/artist working at the nexus between research, education and artistic practice. Her work pulls focus on elemental stories of water, earth and air. Turned-toward immersive storytelling and new modes of documentary experience to facilitate impactful climate science education, Lauren combines the perceptual and epistemic aspects of scientific observation into experiential, documentary and poetic portraits that call for engagement and participation in the natural world.
The goal is authentic outreach motivated by questions unearthed from the collision of art and science that bridge the gap between lived experience and learned knowledge. Lauren is a graduate of the Interdisciplinary Documentary Media Practices MFA program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work has screened nationally and internationally at festivals, planetariums, museums and other venues around the world. Her VR film, The Arctic Halocline, won best film at Barcelona Planet Film Festival and SCINEMA International Science Film Festival, and won the industry award at Raw Science Film Festival. The Arctic Halocline was also was rated top ten VR films of 2023 and featured on MetaQuest's homepage and was invited to screen at COP28 in the UN-invite only Blue Zone Ocean Pavilion Immersion Theater. Her latest education and public outreach project which combined climate science and sustainable fashion education premiered at New York Fashion Week, 2023.
Allison Fong is a microbial oceanographer and polar ecologist specializing in the roles microbes play in biogeochemistry and marine ecology. Formerly, she was a researcher at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute (Germany) and an Ecosystem Team Co-coordinator for the MOSAiC Project (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate). Now she is based in Rhode Island (USA), funded on a grant by National Geographic Society. During her career, she has sailed offshore for more than 500 days on research vessels, and spent more than nine months in the central Arctic during the MOSAiC expedition leading Team ECO to capture the pulse of Arctic life. She has studied microbes from the waters off of Rapa Nui to microbes encased in remote Arctic sea ice.
Throughout her career, Allison has been dedicated to service and community action. During her graduate studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa, she served on the Board of Directors for the Association of the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) from 2011-2014. Today, she continues her work with ASLO as a member of the Education and Outreach Committee, leading the ASLO Storyteller Series. She was also a fellow of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Marine Working group from 2016-2018. She continuously engages with broad audiences via talks, ranging from high school math students to undergraduates, and was invited to give a virtual talk at the California Academy of Sciences Night School event (start at 22:02 min).
Allison was highlighted by ABC News as part of their Voices Series: Women and Climate Change (April 2021). She was also featured in GEO Magazine (December 2020) and CBS News (November 2020) speaking about passion, the importance of science, and taking action against climate change.
