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, in search of boundaries, edges, and ecotones to interrogate contemporary notions of observation and inference.
A floating observation station is positioned at the boundary where habitats combine, marking sites of transformation that are challenging to capture due to constant change. Over time, the waters around the floating station will transform into a bog.
The 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 to document the shifting ecotone.
Special thanks: Bioart Society
Supported by:
European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, Cultural Endowment of Estonia
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.
