Andy Gracie is a Spanish new media artist who develops installations designed to interact with natural living systems, often in combination with biotechnology. In his research and art project 200 Metros, he descends into the largely unexplored world of the deep sea.
Man knows more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than about the underwater world at the great depths of the Earth’s oceans. A depth of 200 meters is a boundary of transition; it comes close to the maximum diving depth, where light no longer penetrates; in short, a boundary between sea and deep sea.
The 200 Metros project offers a perspective on descending to and briefly experiencing this loaded place. Two installations have been developed by Gracie that can operate at great depths; one observes the changing image, light and sound conditions and the other registers the depth and soil structure. These installations have been brought to extreme depths of the Cantabrian Sea.
Gracie sailed on the research vessel Ramon Margalef. He spent three days on research and measurements. The installation in the exhibition includes three screens with images of descents, a documentary of the mission and an interview with diver Andrés Rodríguez.
200 Metros was commissioned by Laboral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial and the port security of Gijón, Spain. The project was facilitated through a research mission on board the Ramon Margalef, a scientific vessel of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute.