ARTIST STATEMENT
O’Steen and Ogasian work collaboratively to produce multimedia, research based installations. Their work incorporates sculptural elements, digital media, drawing, writing, and photography. Their projects always involve fieldwork, and installations incorporate artifacts and “data” collected from the landscape itself, and they are inspired by their immediate surroundings. Their work focuses on their relationship with the changing environment, and uses methodologies borrowed from citizen science to critique traditional notions of exploration and conquest. They attempt to re-orient themselves in a contemporary world dominated by data and technology, where the romantic and adventurous spirit of discovery has been lost or forgotten. They are interested in the moments where science and technology give rise to the nebulous, the enigmatic, the mysterious -- where the primary goal is to “make sense” rather than to objectively know.
Claudia O’Steen_Keweenaw Observing Station_installation_2022_dimensions na/ Rabbit Island, Lake Superior, MI. Keweenaw Observing Station is a collaborative multimedia artwork that examines the effect of climate change on Lake Superior and the Great Lakes System. The work consists of a series of site-responsive, portable sculptures that function as observational stations/instrumentation as well as repositories of information. These sculptures are inspired by local NOAA monitoring systems, such as the Great Lakes Water Levels Monitoring Network. The instruments poetically measure wind, waves, visibility, water level, and temperature, exploring both the possibilities and limitations afforded by perceptual observation. Within the artwork, our observations are contextualized vis-a-vis large, ongoing collections of data via satellite imagery, scientific instrumentation, human memory, and citizen science intended to help predict the future of the lake. The project touches upon the lake as a “site of memory” by examining how winter conditions contribute to subsequent summers while also engaging human memory and direct experience.