Earth & Space
Whales and the stories they carry about climate change are the subject of new art and science exhibition at the IAS
A new exhibit at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UC Santa Cruz merges cutting-edge whale research with immersive art to tell powerful, interdisciplinary stories about climate change and ecological justice.
Whales have inspired rich histories of storytelling. From the stories told by the Haida in the Pacific Northwest about sǵaana, whales that move between the human and spirit worlds, to those told in Abrahamic texts about Jonah being swallowed by a whale, these tales exist in cultures across the globe. Now, a new story is being told about whales and climate change at a major new art and science exhibition project at UCSC Institute of the Arts and Sciences (IAS). Weather and the Whale, on view at the IAS May 29, 2025 – March 8, 2026, features immersive displays of original science research and newly commissioned contemporary artworks that connect people to the impacts of climate change in innovative and unusual ways.
The art and science focus of the exhibition is a reflection of the unusual assembly of curators who have developed the project. Ari Friedlaender, a renowned marine ecologist in the University of California, Santa Cruz’s Department of Ocean Sciences and Institute of Marine Studies, has worked with Dr. Rachel Nelson and Dr. Alexandra Moore from the Institute of the Arts and Sciences for two years, gathering a team of artists, scientists, and humanists to work together.
Dr. Friedlaender says, “In my lab we collect data about how the climate crisis affects the behaviors and mortality rates of whales and other marine mammals. However, we still struggle to communicate how the changing climate is being experienced not only by vulnerable marine mammals, but also other vulnerable communities. Working with artists has given us a unique chance to think about how people perceive the current threats– and even take action.”
Presented across the galleries and the screening room at the IAS, Weather and the Whale includes new research and data developed through two years of fieldwork by the Friedlaender Lab. This data, much made public for the first time, delves into the impacts on whales and other marine mammals of environmental toxins, sea ice retreat, and other threats, including what is happening in Monterey Bay and throughout coastal California.
For the internationally acclaimed artists in the exhibition, the research has provided a unique vantage point to creatively engage these and other ecological threats as well as their consequences on whales and all their land-based counterparts. Artworks include video, painting, photography, sculpture, and immersive installations.
“Interdisciplinary working groups such as the one behind Weather and the Whale can diversify and refine ethical approaches to both the arts and science practice,” says award-winning artist Carolina Caycedo, who has two new artworks on view, including a diptych and an embroidered atarraya (an artisan fishing net). “Collaboration enriches our practices, allowing us to go places, engage in processes, and commit to ideas in ways that we would never be able to on our own. Through conversation and collaboration our work can become part of something bigger—call it a movement, a transition, a cultural shift.”
Most of the immersive video installations, sculptures, photography, and other artworks on view are newly created for Weather and the Whale. The ten artists and collectives involved provide novel and experiential ways of communicating the human and nonhuman experiences of living in times of climate crisis– and to imagine global climate justice across land and ocean.
“Our mission,” Dr. Nelson, the IAS director and chief curator, says, “is to promote art and research which elevate understanding about the critical issues of our times. With wildfires, drought, and other climate disasters having major consequences on our communities and surroundings, we are excited to have this opportunity to bring leading artists together with scientists at UC Santa Cruz to tell a story of climate change that can inspire people to embrace the broad challenges that we face on California’s coast.”
Two satellite exhibitions, Sam Williams: Deep in The Eye and The Belly at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery and Yolande Harris: Sound Portal for Whale Bubbles at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, will be on view in fall 2025. A publication is forthcoming in spring 2026.
Artists:
Carolina Caycedo, Sharon Daniel, Ashley Hunt, Courtney Leonard, John Jota Leoñas, Libia Posada, Mia Eve Rollow, Christine Howard Sandoval, Suné Woods and Whale Liberation Front (Imani Jacqueline Brown, Cory Diane, and Peter J Bowling).
Scientists:
Natalia Botero Acosta, Ari Friedlaender, Chloe Lew and Logan Pallin.
Weather and the Whale is curated by Ari Friedlaender, Alexandra Moore and Rachel Nelson with assistance provided by Mirra-Margarita Ianeva and LuLing Osofsky and illustrations by Stephen Alford. It is organized as part of An Aesthetics of Resilience, with support from University of California Office of the President California Climate Action Seed Grant and the Coha Nowark Art + Science Fund.
About the Institute of the Arts and Sciences
As the keystone public galleries at UC Santa Cruz, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences presents a unique vision for the arts at the forefront of social transformation. Drawing on the resources of a leading research university, the world-class exhibitions at the Institute engage the most critical issues of our time, catalyzing meaningful encounters with the arts and ideas.
The IAS Galleries are located at 100 Panetta Avenue, on the westside of Santa Cruz and are open Wednesday-Sunday, 12 pm-5 pm. Admission is free to the public. More information at https://ias.ucsc.edu/.
Press images available here.