HavObservatoriet artwork by Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway launched at Vejle Klimapark, Denmark

‘HavObservatoriet’ is a new artwork by Prof Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway for Vejle Klimapark. The artwork uses the latest forecasting data to create a visual representation of the predicted state of the ocean surrounding Denmark. It was launched on 31 October 2023 at Klimaparken, a major landscaping programme in the city of Vejle that prevents the city from flooding.

HavObservatoriet is a circular steel construction, 3 meters high and 7 meters in diameter. A circular LED screen surrounds the viewer with a visualisation of the current state of the ocean at changing positions in the seas around Denmark. The movement of the waves is a realistic representation of what you would see if you were drifting in the sea at this location.

Autogena and Portway have explored new ways of interpreting and visualising the dynamic movements of the ocean in collaboration with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Using ocean forecasting data, the artists have created an animated visualisation of the movements of the waves represented as millions of floating points that surround the viewer.

HavObservatoriet downloads the latest ocean forecasts from ECMWF several times a day. Software developed by the artists converts the spectral wave information in the forecasts into a three-dimensional animation of the ocean state by interpolating the forecast data to create a higher-resolution spectral map. The simulation is used to drive a particle system that enables the viewer to see the movements of the waves as millions of individual waves of different sizes moving in different directions.

The sculpture is located in Klimaparken Vejle and is situated near the architectural prizewinning Bølgen building (The Wave) and artist Olafur Eliason’s sculptural Fjordenhus building for the LEGO Foundation.

HavObservatoriet is the first of a series of Danish Arts Foundation commissioned artworks in Vejle, with a focus on water as a future challenge and potential. It is part a regional renewal programme in Vejle Midtby Øst and is supported by the Danish Social and Housing Authority, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the Art, Design and Media Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University (ADMRC).

Lise Autogena is Professor of Cross-Disciplinary Art and Head of the Art, Design and Media Research Centre (ADMRC). She is embarking on a one-year sabbatical from the ADMRC as she continues to develop the Narsaq research station.

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