BLEKINGE:  Artists Rezago Kokorin and Sunn Thunders have created a new undersea exhibit, The Abyss, which is both visually stunning and educational.

Visitors teleport from the Blekinge Sculpture Park to The Abyss.  There residents can grab some free swag in the landing area and then be off to tour the exhibit.

Aisles of information, photographs and sculptural pieces replicate a museum feel.  Guests follow a sandy boardwalk past diving bells and ancient sea-exploring relics.  Each image or sea object has a note card containing an explanation of the object and its role in history.

A section of The Abyss contains information about pollutants.  Twelve varieties of pollutants continually flash across a screen as litter is strewn along the path.  

Entering the “underwater” section of The Abyss proves to be fanciful and fun.  It is suggested that the sun be set to midnight and mouselook be used to increase the intensity of the experience.

Guests walk along a long transparent walkway in darkness.  Small neon arrows guide the path downward.  Along the way, the undersea life escorts guests below.

The ocean floor bursts with undersea life; luminescent creatures swimming by.  Coral, shells and sea grasses undulate as the water moves along.  Thermal vents, “smokers,” heat water and molten rock up to 400 degrees centigrade, churn out nitrogen and dissolved minerals.  Although toxic to many creatures, the nutrients feed tubeworms, and these are depicted beautifully in the exhibit.

“Sunn and I inspired each other,” artist Kokorin said.  “We were throwing each other some things which we’d recently made. He had made a Sea Pen and also what we’ve come to call ‘Drifters,’ those large many tentacle things.  And I pulled a couple of things I’d made and suddenly we had a small underwater scene going, sort of a spontaneous building session.  Then the idea of working together on a formal art exhibit dawned [on us].”

Thunders is both a scientist and a science teacher in real life, so this project was a natural extension for him.  Kokorin has been fascinated with the sea since childhood, even recently creating a computer model of the bathysphere.  

Both worked together to compile the extensive notecards detailing different sections of the exhibit.