Untitled, or, They’ve been singing since the gulf was born

In a black room, a cobalt-blue oil drum stands on a low plinth, its open top holding water that trembles with sound. On the wall, the Gulf of Mexico is drawn in pale blue line, its coast written over with names; a small screen and a candle glow in the corner.
From above, a cobalt-blue oil drum stands open on a black plinth, its skin of water lit with red rings and a white web of crossing lines, like a sonar screen sunk inside it. A thin cable drops from the dark to listen.
Title
Untitled, or, They’ve been singing since the gulf was born
Artist
Whale Liberation Front
Imani Jacqueline Brown
Cory Diane
Peter J. Bowling
Date
2025
Description
A sound and video installation by the Whale Liberation Front, the collective of Imani Jacqueline Brown, Cory Diane, and Peter J. Bowling, that imagines how whales in the Gulf of Mexico experience the seismic airgun blasts used to search for oil and gas. Water fills an inverted oil drum with images playing across its surface and a hydrophone hanging above it, beside a hand-painted map of the Gulf marked with alternative place names. Members of the collective also performed a live electroacoustic piece with zither, synthesizers, voice, water, and rare recordings of Gulf whale song at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences, UC Santa Cruz.
Artwork Type
Installation
Sound Art / Field Recording
Film / Video
Materiality
Audio / Sound
Video / Digital Video
Metal
Climate & Ecology Themes
Oceans and Coasts
Extraction and Mining
Biodiversity and Species Loss
Environmental Justice
Concepts
More-than-Human Relations
Colonialism and Decolonization
Ecological Domain / Habitat
Open Ocean
Methods & Approaches
Art and Science Collaboration
Audience / Engagement Type
Public / General Audience
Location
Institute of the Arts and Sciences, 100 Panetta Ave, Santa Cruz, California
Geographic Scope
International / Global
Rights
Rights held by artist or creator
Website
Imani Jacqueline Brown
Affiliated Organizations
Weather and the Whale
UCSC Institute of the Arts and Sciences
Discipline / Field
Arts & Design
Item sets
California Art & Climate Archive
UC Santa Cruz
Media
In a black room, a cobalt-blue oil drum stands on a low plinth, its open top holding water that trembles with sound. On the wall, the Gulf of Mexico is drawn in pale blue line, its coast written over with names; a small screen and a candle glow in the corner.Whale Liberation Front, Untitled, or, They’ve been singing since the gulf was born
From above, a cobalt-blue oil drum stands open on a black plinth, its skin of water lit with red rings and a white web of crossing lines, like a sonar screen sunk inside it. A thin cable drops from the dark to listen.Whale Liberation Front, Untitled, or, They’ve been singing since the gulf was born (detail)