There is an ever-evolving need for new ideas about sustainable development in a world of constantly shifting biophysical and social realities. This is especially pertinent in coastal land and seascapes: spaces where a myriad of societal activities and productive and dynamic natural systems co-exist.
Catching a Wave (CaW), an iterative sea-level rise multi-media installation, has brought together a research consortium from four universities based in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. CaW was deliberately conceptualized to act as a catalyst for constructing a transdisciplinary approach for shifting individual and collective mind-sets toward action for more sustainable oceans and coasts and the people who live, work, and interact within these spaces.
Focused on five SDGs; SDG13: Climate Action and SDG14: Life below Water, SDG3: Good health and wellbeing; SDG15: Life on Land; and SDG17: Partnerships for the Goals. CaW was designed to increase awareness and resonance of the SDGs and oceanscapes with multiple audiences.
While CaW specifically set out to transform the way in which actors, stakeholders, and society interact with ocean and coastal spaces, the process of message development has remained dynamic and driven by an iterative co-design process Catching a Wave engages both artists and scientists to generate collaborative pathways for sustainability action.
Designed to move the conversation beyond a ‘service mentality’ of separate product delivery into the development of transdisciplinary collaborations, this integrated, interactive, and immersive project, Catching a Wave, demonstrates the power and synergies between art and science, and further the evolution of a model for collaboration by identifying challenges to integration.