The Algae Society is a global collective of interdisciplinary researchers working together to establish a new community with algae, as a non-human international research partner. The Algae Society was founded by a special partnership between the Coaction Lab and the Open Lab Research Group at UC Santa Cruz.
www.algaesociety.org
The Algae Society launched its first exhibit at the MOXI Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation in Santa Barbara, CA from April – July 2019. Our collaboration is a novel approach that seeks to benefit, support and educate the public of our symbiotic relationship with non-human organisms. All exhibits will be developed in consultation with Algae Society participants informed by algae from Australia, Egypt, New Zealand, Spain, and the United States. As a working group of artists, scientists and scholars, we’ve focused our lens to collaborate, cooperate, experiment, design and exhibit with algae as a united society in an interdependent system of organisms. The aim of The Algae Society is to spark and ignite new research & communication approaches across the globe that transcend disciplines to invite deeper more compassionate connections for living organisms like algae. We aim to build effective actions of change that alter human behavior, embrace curiosity and wonder, and spawn love and empathy as we communicate the rich diversity of algae in the face of global warming.
The Oceanic Scales exhibit, reconfigured for the Moxi show space, explores our role in maintaining a stable ocean ecology through a multi-sensory, interactive art and science puzzle inspired by the microorganisms of the sea. The hope is to encourage change toward sustainable living practices by engaging the public to reflect on and perhaps better understand how humans impact the environment at local and global scales.