Another Deep

(2025)

Another Deep is an immersive audiovisual installation and live performance by Sébastien Robert and Mark IJzerman, transporting you to the ocean depths near Svalbard (Norway) to confront the layered realities of imminent deep-sea mining. Through multichannel soundscapes and intimate visual experiences, the project places you directly before the raw materials—vital for modern technologies like smartphones and electric vehicles—whose extraction transforms ecosystems and fuels geopolitical tensions.

Another Deep envelops you in sound: the haunting calls of belugas and sperm whales, the crackling of melting glaciers both above and below the surface, and the deep vibrations of the ocean floor. These sounds, captured using hydrophones and ultrasensitive microphones during the Arctic Circle Residency program, blend with visuals of the ocean floor, archival footage as well as microscopic footage. Together, they juxtapose the unseen: marine life, retreating ice, and microscopic plankton from Svalbard’s waters, with the tangible—actual deep-sea polymetallic nodules in an installation representing the mechanics of deep-sea drilling. This interplay reveals the forces of life, industry, and transformation at work in the region.

Through this experience, Another Deep prompts reflection on the deep entanglement of human activity and natural systems, where the Arctic emerges as a site of both fragile beauty and profound changes. It invites you to consider what is gained—and what is lost—when extraction reshapes ecosystems, and to understand the broader environmental, social, and political ripples of these actions.