An exhibition by Firoiu Dan Nicolae

Glowing Oceans: a touring deep-sea art exhibition

A touring exhibition of deep-sea art and natural history at four scales: one wall, a room of 100 to 200 m², a hall of 400 to 900 m², or twenty-four buildings across a city.

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An exhibition by Firoiu Dan Nicolae

The exhibition

From the book grows an exhibition, and it grows with the place that shows it: from a gallery to a museum, from an aquarium or exhibition centre to a whole city. Each creature has several plates, so each showing is chosen afresh for its space. It comes in four scales.

A wall A gallery, as it is Nine to sixteen works on one wall, hung in a morning under the gallery's own lights. A room A gallery, museum or aquarium · 100 to 200 m² Forty-five to ninety works: salon walls round one great lightbox. A hall A museum or an exhibition centre · 400 to 900 m² A descent from the sunlit surface to the deepest trench, with lightboxes three metres high and prints of five metres. A city A municipality and its sponsors Twenty-four buildings, one walk; creatures five to ten metres across, lit after dark.

Part one

One wall

In a gallery, as it is

The smallest exhibition is a single wall. It needs nothing built and nothing darkened: a group of works, the gallery's own lights, and a morning to hang them.

Nine works on four metres: one at 100 cm in the centre and eight at 60 cm around it, printed on wood or acrylic under a layer of glass. The works are sold from the wall and replaced from the series.

A gallery wall hung with glowing works of creatures of the deep, and a visitor

Part two

A room

An exhibition of 100 or 200 square metres

With a room of its own, the series becomes an exhibition: a route, a change of light, and creatures at many times their size. It fits a gallery or a museum, and just as well the halls of an aquarium, beside the living animals.

A dimmed room with a great lightbox on the far wall and salon walls of prints on the side walls — 100 square metresOne room: five salon walls round a single great lightbox of 6 × 3 metres. Forty-five works.

The dark third room with a five-metre anglerfish print on the far wall and visitors in front of it — 200 square metresThree rooms in a row, one way through, from the sunlit surface down into the dark. Nine salon walls and a print five metres high. About ninety works.

Part three

A hall

Exhibitions of 400 and 900 square metres

In a hall, the visit becomes a dive. Visitors go down through the zones of the sea, each darker than the last, and every way of showing the works can be used at once: salon walls in the light, triptychs and dark walls, a corridor of light, lightboxes three metres high, works underfoot, and prints five metres tall.

The 900 square metre hall seen from above with the roof off — 900 square metres, seen wholeFour zones, one descent: a salon gallery in soft light, two lanes of other ways of showing, the corridor of light, and the great dark hall of the deep with two works five metres high.

The 400 square metre hall seen from above: a dark room inside a bright gallery — 400 square metresOne idea: a dark sea inside a bright one. Twelve salon walls round the outside; in the middle, a print of 5 × 5 metres, two lightboxes and a work glowing on the floor. About 150 works.

Part four

A city

Twenty-four buildings, one walk, by day and by night

The largest exhibition has no walls of its own. Twenty-four creatures of the deep, cut to their outline and five to ten metres across, are fixed to twenty-four buildings across a city, along a seafront or a harbour, and people walk from one to the next. It is made for a municipality and its sponsors: a way to turn a whole town's attention to the sea, and to the animals almost nobody has ever seen.

A street by day with giant creatures of the deep on the buildings — By day. An anglerfish three storeys high on an ordinary wall. The scale stops people.

The same street at night, the creatures glowing on the buildings — By night. Lamps bring up the colours, or a projector throws moving light onto the print: a jelly pulses, a lure flickers, and the animal seems to swim on the wall.

To the town

A free event in the open air, for every resident
A reason to walk the town, and to come from elsewhere
A subject for schools: a class can follow the trail
Pictures that travel: every building becomes a photograph

To a sponsor

Its name beside the largest works in the city
A visible commitment to the sea and its protection
A season of presence, on the trail map and at each stop
Evenings and guided walks for its own guests

Eighteen ways of showing the works

On the wall

Print on wood or acrylic, under glass
Salon wall
Free-standing wall
Triptych
Diptych

In light

Lightbox, 3 × 3 m
Lightbox, 6 × 3 m
Corridor of light
Lit column
Ceiling panel
Shop window

In the room

Dark room
Floor piece
Hanging cut-outs

At great size

Minuscule Monumental, up to 5 × 5 m
On a building, 5 to 10 m
Light at night
Projection mapping

The lightboxes and the dark room exist. Prints, salon walls and the five-metre print can be made. The other formats are proposals, developed with each venue. The pictures on this page are visualisations, not photographs.

The presentation

The full presentation, with floor plans and views for each size of venue, the formats, the book and the artist.

Download the presentation Write to us

PDF · 24 pages · 6 MB

For venues

An exhibition for every kind of venue

Glowing Oceans is a touring exhibition of deep-sea art and natural history, offered to museums, aquariums, science centres, galleries, exhibition centres and cities, each at its own scale.

Natural history, art and city museumsMuseumsA temporary exhibition that joins art and natural history: creatures of the deep drawn as living glass, each with its scientific name, depth, range and sourced facts. From forty-five works in a room to nearly three hundred in a hall.

Beside the living animalsAquariumsA dark room with one great lightbox, or a whole route from the surface to the trench, set beside the tanks. The creatures that no aquarium can keep, shown at many times their size, with the book in the shop.

Science told through picturesScience centresBioluminescence, depth and pressure made visible. Every creature is shown with its six signs, with facts checked against their sources. A family exhibition that holds children and adults alike.

Contemporary art galleries and art fairsGalleriesA wall or a room of signed and numbered works, printed on wood or acrylic under glass: unique works and limited editions of ten and twenty-five. Hung in a morning, sold from the wall.

Halls of 400 to 900 square metresExhibition centresAn immersive exhibition with a route from daylight into the deep: a gallery of prints, a corridor of light, lightboxes three metres high and works five metres tall. Designed and built by the artist’s team, and made to tour.

An open-air exhibition for a whole townCities and municipalitiesCreatures of the deep on twenty-four buildings, linked by a walk along the seafront or the harbour and lit at night. A free public event for a season, with sponsors, that turns a town’s attention to the sea.

Questions from venues

How much space does the exhibition need?

From a single wall to a whole hall. There are designs for one gallery wall, for rooms of 100 and 200 square metres, for halls of 400 and 900 square metres, and for an open-air exhibition across a city.

What does the exhibition include?

The works themselves, printed on wood or acrylic under glass; lightboxes up to three metres high and prints up to five metres; the design of the route and the hang; wall texts and captions with sourced facts about each animal; and the book to show and sell beside it.

Can the exhibition tour?

Yes. It is designed to travel. Each of the 101 creatures has three plates, so each venue receives its own selection, and a returning exhibition can be entirely new.

Is it suitable for families and school groups?

Yes. The pictures speak to every age, the facts are short and written to be read aloud, and each creature carries the same six signs. A visit works for a family, a school class or an adult audience.

Can it be shown in an aquarium?

Yes. A room of 100 or 200 square metres fits beside the tanks, and the dark room and lightboxes need no daylight. The works show the deep-sea animals an aquarium cannot keep alive.

How does a city exhibition work?

Twenty-four creatures, five to ten metres across, are fixed to buildings across the town and linked by a walking trail, lit after dark or brought to life by projection mapping. The municipality provides the buildings and permissions, a sponsor supports the production, and the artist’s team designs and makes it. It runs for a season and is free to the public.

How do we receive the presentation or book the exhibition?

The full exhibition presentation, with floor plans and views for each size of venue, can be downloaded from this page as a PDF. To discuss dates, the selection of works and terms, write to us.