The Estonian bog landscape offers an enigmatic zone for exploration; it is a territory where the register between remote sensing data and ground truth is unusually slippery. We approach the river, the riverbank, and bog as both pseudoscientists and artists in search of boundaries, edges and ecotones. A floating observation station is positioned at this boundary - where habitats combine, the shifting periphery between water and shoreline mark sites of transformation that are difficult to capture because they are subject to constant change. The sculptural observation station carefully considers the fragility of the environment in which it is placed, recognizing that peat restoration in bogs is key to Estonia’s climate action plan. The station uses scientific observational tools and methodologies such as a Secchi disk, cyanometer, and a Forel Ule Scale in order to document the shifting ecotone.
Claudia O’Steen and Aly Ogasian work collaboratively to produce multimedia, research based installations. Their work incorporates sculpture, digital media, drawing, writing, and photography, and their studio practice takes a flexible, idea driven approach. They have been awarded collaborative residencies at Rabbit Island, Wassaic Project, Haystack, Montalvo Arts Center, The Arctic Circle, and NCCA St.Petersburg, Russia, and have exhibited both nationally and internationally at venues such as The Russian State Arctic Museum, apexart, Flux Factory, and Ohio State University, amongst others.
