Upwell Art Lab is a contemporary art organization dedicated to nurturing the dynamic between art and ocean ecology.
Inspired by the concept of upwelling ocean currents that move deep, cold, nutrient-rich ocean water to the surface to enrich biological productivity, it fosters the belief that art and culture can play a key role in nourishing and healing threatened ocean ecosystems.
Ohan Breiding and Shoghig Halajian, still from Souvenir, 2021. Single-channel video. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. Included in Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean, curated by Cassandra Coblentz.
MISSION
Upwell Art Lab promotes cultural and environmental understanding by commissioning innovative, site-responsive art projects that engage with the most pressing ecological and social justice issues impacting marine and coastal environments.
VISION
Upwell Art Lab inspires action, deepens understanding, and contributes meaningful engagement with ocean conservation and ecological justice through groundbreaking artistic practices rooted in ideas of nourishment, reciprocity, and generativity.
PACIFIC COASTAL POSITION
As the only organization in California with this focus, and one of few internationally, Upwell Art Lab is a leading innovator in the world. Situated on the Pacific coast, Upwell Art Lab recognizes the ocean as essential to California’s identity, while maintaining global awareness of urgent ecological issues.
Upwell Art Lab recognizes that it operates as a guest of the Tongva people on their unceded ancestral homelands and that learning from traditional ecological knowledge is key to effecting meaningful change in the oceanic environment. The artistic program is grounded in a nuanced understanding of humans as part of a complex ecosystem of interdependent lifeforms.
LOCATION
Upwell Art Lab is located on the campus of AltaSea at the Port of LA, a unique public-private ocean institute that convenes and nurtures the best and brightest pioneers and organizations in science, business, and education.
opening
FALL 2026
More information coming soon!
Paul Rosero Contreras, Still from Dark Paradise 2—On Restoration and Future, 2024. Digital video and 3D printed sand and plastic. Courtesy of the artist and Dos Islas Studio USFQ, Ecuador. Commissioned by Oceanside Museum of Art for Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean, curated by Cassandra Coblentz.
Marcos Lutyens, installation view detail, Platform Theta; Holly-Stakeholders: Invertebrates, Eureka- Stakeholders: Vertebrates, Gail-Stakeholders: Human(imal)s, 2024. Ink on sailcloth, digital audio, and bean bags. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist. Commissioned by Oceanside Museum of Art for Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean, curated by Cassandra Coblentz.
