Okeanos
Unlike any performance/exhibit of its kind, Okeanos is an installation that will inspire and educate audiences about the ocean, catalyze interest in art/science collaborations, and help to raise funds for ocean conservation.
Premiere: April 12-15 (Talks 6pm - Show 8pm) at Fort Mason's Herbst Pavillion
The Premiere of Okeanos
Capacitor and Fort Mason Center present Okeanos, an dance - circus ocean sensory immersion devoted to improving human & ocean relations. Inspired by Bali’s coral reefs and Monterey's Kelp forest, Okeanos was developed in collaboration with world-renowned marine biologists and oceanographers. This dance/circus performance incorporates choreography, apparatus, and set design by Capacitor Artistic Director Jodi Lomask, along with dance video, live vocalizations, and underwater cinematography.
Herbst Pavillion at Fort Mason
Thursday - Sunday, April 12-15
Ticket: $25 (first 100) $30 (second 100) $35 (remainder)
Preshow Talks: $20
Reception 6:00-6:30
PreShow Talks 6:30-7:30
Okeanos 8:00-9:00
Ocean Issues Cafe 9:00-10:00
Thursday - April 12th 5pm
TEDxSF
Friday - April 13th 6pm
Diving into Deep Sea Technology
Chris Welsh (Virgin Oceanic), Brett Hobson (MBARI), and Erika Montague (Liquid Robotics)
MC Dr. Tierney Thys (Nat Geo Explorer)
Saturday - April 14th 6pm
National Geographics Ocean Initiatives presents
Ocean Explorers with Dr. Sylvia Earle, David de Rothschild (Plastiki), Jenifer Austin (Google Ocean), and Chef Barton Seaver (Cod and Country). MC Dr. Tierney Thys
Sunday - April 15th 6pm
BLUEMiND: Your Mind On Blue
Dr. Wallace J Nichols (BLUEMiND) and Friends. MC Sarah Kornfeld (BLUEMiND)
About Okeanos
Covering 99% of Earth’s living space, the ocean is representative of the rhythms of life itself. By turns fascinating and terrifying, the ocean is an integral part of our lives: we derive food from it, breathe the oxygen produced in it, drink the water that cycles through it, explore its depths to learn more about its inhabitants and our planet, and create countless songs, poems, and paintings about its breathtaking and often dangerous beauty. Yet this essential resource is being destroyed by growing human demands. Coral extinction, plastic trash contamination, over-fishing, oil spills, climate change - our immense impact on the ocean is undeniable. What once felt vast, endless, and overwhelmingly deep is now vulnerable to our increasingly destructive ways of living. Okeanos is a multidisciplinary corporeal portrait of the ocean as body, environment, resource, metaphor, and force. Currently in development, the work incorporates choreography and set design by Capacitor artistic director Jodi Lomask, video art by RJ Muna and Joseph Seif, underwater cinematography by David Hannan, sound composition by EO, Beats Antique and Tipper, vocalizations by Anka Draugelates, violin by Julia Ogrydziac, and costumes by Kimie Sako. The creation process also features the participation of a scientific advisory panel of some of the world’s leading researchers in marine biology and oceanography. Through this collaboration, Capacitor created a 60-minute performance that gives audiences a fully immersive sensory experience of the ocean; assisting people in affirming their commitment and connection to ocean life; and creating a blueprint for future art/science collaborations.
Okeanos features the distinctive artistic and technical components that Capacitor has come to be known for – inventive and articulated dance vocabulary, abstract steel forms that mirror nature, poetic integration of audio/video/media forms, sculptural costumes, scientifically supported content, and conservation partnerships. The audience will participate in the space with Capacitors’ six dancers (including choreographer Lomask) and five circus artists as they perform among them on a custom-designed aerial apparatus inspired by the shapes and features of ocean life.
The Okeanos multi-media installation surrounds this central performance space on all four sides and takes audiences on a visual journey of the ocean, from the breaking waves of its surface to the diverse ecosystems at its depths. Video includes underwater footage of dancers and sea life as well as constructed video effects of dancers to simulate underwater movement and flow. Vocal improvisations – performed live both as solos and in conjunction with recordings of whale songs – and samples of recordings of the scientific advisors punctuate the sound score.
The Okeanos performances feature a multi-level educational component. Capacitor plans to offer classes on its artistic approach and/or perform for university science and dance departments in tour cities. The company is also working with the project’s scientific advisors and presenters to arrange post-performance audience discussions. These talks will provide insight on how technology and scientific principles informed the creation and performance of the new piece, as well as illuminate the inner workings of the ocean.
Once the performance is complete, there will be tables set up around the performance/exhibit space for individualized conservation consulting for audiences covering sustainable nutrition (seafood watch fish guide), minimizing carbon footprints, waste management, and other outreach efforts.
Scientific Advisory Panel
- Tierney Thys PhD - Marine Biologist, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and Expedition Leader, Monterey Bay Aquarium consultant, past director of research at the Sea Studios Foundation, a team of scientists and filmmakers that makes award-winning media to raise awareness of environmental issues
- Sylvia Earle PhD - Chief scientist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (90-92) and National Geographic Explorer-in-rRsidence.
- Bart Shepard – BA MS General Curator of the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences
- Michael Arvedlund - BSc MSc PhD CICS, Reef Consultants
- John Potter - Principal Scientist at the NATO Undersea Research Centre
- Edith Widder - President & Senior Scientist, Ocean Research & Conservation Association
- Morton Lomask - Bathyscaphe Explorer, 1957 (10K foot dive)
- Healy Hamilton – Director of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics at the
- California Academy of Sciences
- Terry Gosliner – Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Geology at the California Academy of Sciences
Target population
Besides attracting modern dance audiences, members of the scientific community, conservationists and environmental activists, we hope to reach individuals who are new to modern performance, conservation, and ocean science. Capacitor’s highly visual, sometimes spectacular work appeals to younger, underserved audiences who do not otherwise patronize live dance performances. The company also hopes that the immersive nature of the work will engage individuals who are new to modern dance and/or to attending live performances in general. Few people are afforded the opportunity to explore the deep ocean. In touring Okeanos, the company aims to deliver an experience of wild nature to thousands of people who may never have the chance to commune with the ocean and its inhabitants directly. In doing so, Capacitor expects to excite audiences with the creative possibilities of live performance, and generate a greater sense of stewardship for this great body we humans require for survival.