ARTECHOUSE NYC is a hidden art bomb: an explosion of light, color, and sound in a 100-year-old boiler room turned digital art hub in the basement of Chelsea Market. Their current immersive art-and-science exhibition, Twilight Zone: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean, takes you 600 feet below the surface of the ocean, to the mesopelagic zone, just beyond the reach of sunlight. Here be mythical creatures never before seen by human eyes!

Serious Science…

ARTECHOUSE created the exhibit in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s leading independent non-profit dedicated to ocean research, exploration, and education. Blending scientific discovery, digital art, interactive technology, and an original musical score by the Istanbul-based composer Mehmet Ünal, the exhibition brings the ocean twilight zone to life with footage of extraordinary creatures in one of the planet’s largest and least understood habitats. You’ll see a realm where creatures produce their own light, the largest animal migration on Earth unfolds each night, and the movement of marine life helps regulate the planet’s climate.

… With Cocktails

Aiming to please all ages, from schoolkids to jaded Manhattan art lovers, the exhibit gives you the opportunity to enjoy a stiff one before immersing in the depths of the ocean. Similar to the Museum of Ice Cream, you are offered a drink the minute you enter the exhibition. Cheers!

But you can do more in the RX Bar at ARTECHOUSE than just whet your whistle. RX Bar features an interactive science display that allows visitors to explore the DNA of the strange and magical creatures displayed in the exhibit, as well as an “extended reality” real-time art display of you and your friends sitting at the bar.

Extended Reality?

Though we normally wait until after the shoot to indulge, this time my crew and I (photographer Philip Maier and assistant Amy Amor, last name anonymized by request) spent about 90 minutes at the bar, sipping bioluminescent cocktails, mesmerized by the shifting art impressions of our tableau vivant.

ARTECHOUSE’s national bar director and Chelsea location bar manager, Sebastian (Bash) Acimovic, explained how the XR tableau vivant works.

“A camera above you takes your image and then in real time it codes your appearance through different styles of art. Every 60 seconds you are able to see a new version of you. This is so much fun. You have Julio [Le Parc], Picasso, Monet…” It’s hypnotic.

Bartender Pro Tip

Bash has created a slew of twilight zone-themed cocktails for us all to enjoy, including a bioluminescent nectar enhanced with mezcal, pineapple, and a cilantro-salt rim (also available zero proof). I highly recommend it!

Bash also gave us a pro cocktail-enjoyment tip. He advises that to get the full effect of a curated cocktail, forego the straw and let the liquid spread across the entire surface of your tongue. Taste receptors on the edges of the tongue will pick up the special nuances of the elixer. Though I didn’t want to blur my blue lipstick, I followed his advice and he’s right. The exceptional flavors expand and bloom across the tongue like bioluminescent algae on the surface of the ocean.

Going Under

Suitably fortified, my crew and I descended into the boiler room and were immersed in the fascinating underwater world of the twilight zone. The 24-minute cinematic journey follows the mysterious bioluminscent animals through a complete cycle of their daily Diel Vertical Migration, in which they rise together to feed at the ocean’s surface from dusk to dawn. This is the largest animal migration on earth! The feeding journey goes both ways. Satellite tagging has revealed that whales, tuna, swordfish, sharks, and other top predators dive deep down into the twilight zone to feed.

WHOI (pronounced whoo-ee) says that scientists estimate the twilight zone may contain more fish biomass than all the rest of the ocean combined. Dead animals and marine “snow”— clumps of dead plankton, bacteria, fecal pellets (yes, fish poop too!), and other particles rich in organic carbon—sink from surface waters through the twilight zone to the deep ocean, providing food for twilight zone animals. This is how the twilight zone animals move carbon into the deep ocean, helping to regulate Earth’s climate. WHOI’s Ocean Learning Hub has oodles of fascinating information about the creatures in the Twilight Zone.

What inspires ARTECHOUSE?

ARTECHOUSE was founded in 2017 and came to NYC in 2019. They developed their pioneering immersive art experiences long before AI became a household word, with the mission of supporting artists through the use of technology.

Rather than recreate the deep sea as a conventional, realistic underwater environment, ARTECHOUSE senior marketing and revenue director Josh Feldman explains that the exhibit is a creative collaboration between scientists and artists that translates scientific data, research, and observation into an imaginative visual language of colors, shapes, light, sound, and movement. He said, “Science is an art and art is a science. We want to make sure they are very close together.”

The splendid 270-degree imagery allows visitors to move between macro and micro perspectives and feel the immense scale of the nightly migration while also immersing in the intricate beauty of individual organisms. The extraordinary exhibition makes an invisible ecosystem feel immediate, fascinating, and worth protecting. I hope you will feel that way too.

Visiting Hours

ARTECHOUSE’s location manager, Melody Estrella, has created a welcoming environment for visitors for almost seven years. She invites you to visit Twilight Zone: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean seven days a week. Hours: Monday-Friday, Noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; entrance at 439 W. 15th St. Catch Twilight Zone before the end of November.

Then stay tuned for their much-anticipated holiday exhibit in December.

For educators, ARTECHOUSE provides learning materials and discounts for student groups, with different lesson plans for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

This story first appeared in Chelsea News and other papers in the Straus News group. If you enjoy this column and would like to support real human writers, please subscribe to my Substack!

What I Wore

• Nude water-drop-encrusted dress by Haute Monde. Flamingos Vintage Pound, 110 W. 26th St.
• Ballet-slipper pink Prada 5 1/2″ satin pumps from the delightful Collette’s Basement, 10 Main St., Southampton.
• Seashell necklace. Judi Harvest Chelsea studio sale.
• Mermaid wig. Helena Collection Wigs. 120 W. 31st St.
• Dreampot lipstick. MAC Cosmetics (discontinued—aargh! but available here and there).

Listening Notes

Hanoi Rocks: Me Boiler, Underwater World

Full album: Two Steps From the Move (1984)