Hudson Canyon
Aqua Cosmos: The Hudson Canyon

An immersive video art projection on the Brooklyn Bridge

Photo Credit: Terria Clay © WCS

In collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society and ArtW, and presented through the New York City Department of Transportation’s art program, internationally recognized multimedia artist Anita Glesta, premeired AQUA COSMOS: The Hudson Canyon, a monumental 18-minute immersive projection that transformed the Brooklyn Bridge into a gateway to one of the world's most extraordinary marine environments.

Just 100 miles off the coast of New York City lies the Hudson Canyon, the largest submarine canyon along the Atlantic Coast. Comparable in scale to the Grand Canyon, it is home to an extraordinary diversity of marine life, including whales, sea turtles, sharks, tuna, cold-water corals, and species that support local fisheries.

AQUA COSMOS: The Hudson Canyon commemorated the 101st anniversary of the 1925 Arcturus Expedition, one of the first scientific explorations of the canyon. Before deep-sea photography was possible, the Wildlife Conservation Society's pioneering Department of Tropical Research documented this hidden world through striking illustrations. Those archival works, preserved at the WCS Archives, were paired with new NOAA deep-sea footage as well as humpback, fin, and North Atlantic right whale vocalizations collected by WCS's New York Bight team. All together, Glesta's immersive 18-minute film that weaved together art, science, and over a century of ocean discovery.

Photo Credit: Terria Clay © WCS

The installation celebrated one of the Atlantic's most remarkable underwater ecosystems while highlighting WCS's longstanding leadership in protecting the Hudson Canyon. Since nominating the area for National Marine Sanctuary status in 2016, WCS has helped lead a coalition supporting NOAA's ongoing designation process for the first National Marine Sanctuary off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.

About the Artist

Anita Glesta is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist whose work spans painting, animation, immersive video, sculpture, and site-specific installations. Her projects draw on scientific research, history, and lived experience to create visually compelling works that engage broad public audiences.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Anita Glesta

Her work has been exhibited internationally at museums and cultural institutions including MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Peking University, the Parrish Art Museum, the Hudson River Museum, White Columns, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, and awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Australia Council for the Arts, and a Laureate Research Fellowship at the University of New South Wales, School of Art, Architecture and Design, “The fEEL Lab”.

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