Under the Bay
Entertainment
Free · Designed for iPad
“Under the Bay” tells the story of a world beneath the surface of the Chesapeake Bay and really all estuaries and oceans. In this augmented reality project a user can point their cell phone at the water — or anywhere in the world — like a microscope and see and hear the hidden invisibilities under the Chesapeake Bay. When they do, a series of stories between humans and non-humans emerge told by the artist Lisa Moren with original music by Dan Deacon.
The narrator describes the Chesapeake Bay in both enlightenment and medieval terms where personal observation is intertwined with scientific knowledge unpacking recent political events and arguing for diversity broadly. Some episodes see microbes like faeries and the planet as an ensouled body soaked in a wet film that breaths like a living organism. Other meandering topics include cryonics, meditation, the origins of the Internet, monuments, protests, US elections, and algae blooms all describing a world out of balance.
Underwater sensors located throughout the Chesapeake Bay collect data on the water’s oxygen and salt levels, pH, temperature, etc. This live data streams into the app allowing the stories, images, and electronic music to be driven by the current conditions of the Bay water. The data from the Bay will direct how the organisms appear and how the story is told. In addition to affecting the animation’s speed and color, originally composed music will change volume, reverb, EQ, and other parameters, based on the water conditions. For example, the narrator's voice will sound choppy, or even choking, when the oxygen is low or anoxic, but when oxygen conditions are good, the voice is clear.
Behind the scenes, marine biologist, Dr. Tsetso Bachvaroff, shares his expertise on the Bay water, its data, and the DNA of the invisible organisms. Dinoflagellates and diatoms produce most of the world’s oxygen and are the ancestors of humans for hundreds of millions of years. Before they outlive humans, they reveal their remarkable survival strategies to us and inspire how we may learn to live in this project.
Viewers may select one of 8 scenes with images and sounds evolving each time they open the app. In the evening the app offers originally composed music and animation inspired by bioluminescence that’s also affected by the incoming water data. A calendar will allow the user to go back in time to hear what the Bay was saying on a particular date, perhaps during an algae bloom. The user may also change sites in the Bay or turn off the data altogether to experience different effects.
“Under the Bay”, tells a unique story for every user, changing over time, over seasons, but always influenced from the viewpoint of the water itself.
TEAM
Lisa Moren, Artistic Director + Script Writer
Dr. Tsvetan Bachvaroff, Marine Biologist, Data Analysis
Dan Deacon, Electronic Composer
Marc Olano, Software Engineer + Developer
John Boutsikas, Lead Programmer
Austin Samson, Modeler + Animator
William Forrest, Animator + Technical Artist
Woody Lissauer, Voiceover Engineer + Narrator, Ted Nelson
Ruskin Nohe-Moren, Narrator, Theodore Schwenk
Aliyah Baruchin, Copy Editor + Fact Checker
++
This project is generously supported by the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund
at Johns Hopkins University and the R.W. Deutsch Foundation.
THIS PROJECT ORIGINATED DURING AN ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM SUPPORTED BY THE INSTITUTE OF MARINE AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY [IMET] AND CIRCA AT UMBC. WE’RE GRATEFUL FOR THE SUPPORT FROM MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES; DANIELLE MCPHATTER AND HARVESTWORKS DIGITAL MEDIA ART CENTER, IRC AND CAHSS AT UMBC, AND ANTOINE CAYROL OF ATLAS V IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES IN AR, XR, AND VR.
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Information
- Provider
- Lisa Moren
- Size
- 3 GB
- Category
- Entertainment
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
• iPhone 6S
• iPhone 6S Plus
• iPhone SE (1st generation)
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone X
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone SE (2nd generation)
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13
• iPhone SE (3rd generation)
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 15
• iPhone 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone 17
• iPhone Air - iPad
Requires iPadOS 11.0 or later.
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (9.7‑inch)
• iPad Pro (9.7‑inch) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (5th generation)
• iPad (5th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (2nd generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (2nd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (10.5‑inch)
• iPad Pro (10.5‑inch) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (6th generation)
• iPad (6th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11‑inch)
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (3rd generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (3rd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad mini (5th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad Air (3rd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (7th generation)
• iPad (7th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (2nd generation)
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (2nd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (4th generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (4th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air (4th generation)
• iPad Air (4th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (8th generation)
• iPad (8th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11-inch) (3rd generation)
• iPad Pro (11-inch) (3rd generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (5th generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (5th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad mini (6th generation)
• iPad mini (6th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad (9th generation)
• iPad (9th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air (5th generation)
• iPad Air (5th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (10th generation)
• iPad (10th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (4th generation)
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (4th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (6th generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (6th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 11-inch (M2)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M2) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 13-inch (M2)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M2) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M4) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M4) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad mini (A17 Pro)
• iPad mini (A17 Pro) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad (A16)
• iPad (A16) Wi-Fi+ Cellular
• iPad Air 11-inch (M3)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M3) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 13-inch (M3)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M3) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M5)
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular - iPod touch
Requires iOS 11.0 or later.
• iPod touch (7th generation) - Mac
Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © Lisa Moren, 2022