Island Pulse

Making the Invisible Visible is a multi-layered, multi-format, multi-discipline communication campaign whose main aim is protection of underwater biodiversity. The main objective of the action is to translate complex scientific data into language understandable to a wider public in order to better understand environmental threats and the benefits of nature protection regulations. The campaign builds on the opportunities protection creates for ecological recovery and nature’s capacity to regenerate, while recognising the threats that can undermine its effectiveness: coastal construction, nautical tourism and sea traffic, rising sea levels, and overfishing. The backbone of the project is the naturally occuring Island-Trapped Waves phenomenon and the local and scientific communities working in tandem in order to instate a specific protection zone.

The work Island Pulse, created by artists Ivan Marušić Klif and Francisca Rocha Gonçalves, uses scientific data to create an immersive audiovisual performance and work which visualises the wave oscillations and underwater sounds surrounding Lastovo island in the exact area where the island-trapped waves (ITWs) phenomenon is occurring, resulting in heightned production of underwater microbiome. The work is an artistic contribution to the lobbying efforts of scientists towards decision-makers in establishing total protection of the area (no-take zone.)