All research cruises are a lot of work. This one, for many of us, is especially taxing, with CTD casts and sampling of surface water at all hours of the day and night. We make good use of the time, money, and energy expended to do good science—but we also like to let our more creative sides loose when we have a bit of time to spare. I’ve been on quite a few cruises, and I can say this is the most creative bunch of scientists I’ve had the pleasure to sail with. Read on to learn what we have been up to in our limited free time!
Getting into the holiday spirit
The Sonne docks on the 22nd of December, so lately we have been feeling festive onboard. Elisabeth Bauer and Polina Tselykh keep spirits high with daily advent offerings of fairy lights, origami supplies, and sweet treats next to a beautiful CTD wreath and card, with help from Paula Damke, Wan Zhang, and Matyas Talpai.
Anita Butterley proved herself to be a talented installation artist over the course of the cruise as she embarked on an advent calendar of her own. Each day she writes a clue that leads to the newest art piece, which often features her fellow scientists.
Tabea von Keitz offered her facepainting expertise, decorating faces with snowflakes, Santa hats, reindeer antlers, and more!
Shrinking CTD art
Pressure increases with depth in the ocean, so the CTD is under a lot of pressure when it reaches depths of thousands of meters. While the CTD won’t warp under pressure, we added some things that will: Styrofoam art! We carefully affixed our art pieces to the CTD so they wouldn’t shed Styrofoam into the seawater. The pressure squeezed out the air in the Styrofoam, leading to miniaturized versions of what we sent down.
Onboard art exhibition
It started out as Paula Damke, Tobias Strickmann, and Anton Theileis doing little art projects while monitoring long CTD dives, then evolved into a full-fledged showcase of their and others’ art complete with hors d’oeuvres. The showcase included digital art and traditional media creations from the Sonne Collective: Anita Butterley, Anton Theileis, Andreas Gerlach, Elisabeth Bauer, Marco Ajmar, Kati Gosnell, Paula Damke, Polina Tselykh, Thorge Putensen, Charlotte Eckmann, and Tobias Strickmann.
Looking at this creative output, you might think this was an art retreat rather than a research cruise. But as past blog posts testify, we have been a prolific bunch in every way. Science and art have always been interrelated, and the same minds that find innovative approaches to science also excel in artistic pursuits. Along with valuable data, we will bring home artsy mementos of fun times together on the Sonne!
By Charlotte Eckmann.