TEKTITE -reflux
In the Spring of 2013, THEMODELINGAGENCY took up residency in a marine research station which had hosted a significant series of studies for NASA in the early 1970’s. Our objective was to utilize the methodologies of experimentation employed in conducting that original research in the service of alternative means of information production.
The Virgin Islands Ecological Research Station (VIERS) is located on the remote South side of St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, within the boundaries of what is now a National Park. The facilities were built to support the1969 TEKTITE project, an experiment in the feasibility of undersea living and working, envisioned as a model for conducting research in space. While submariner scientists conducted research on the sea floor, a NASA funded study evaluated their physiological and psychological well being from above.
THEMODELINGAGENCY investigated both the behavioral study, as well as the research that the marine scientists were pursuing while occupying the undersea habitat. One intended investigation which was never undertaken was the monitoring of the effect of colored light on the submarine ecology. THEMODELOINGAGENCY took the opportunity to complete this initiative as the basis for its own field work at VIERS.
In creating a kind of aesthetic re-enactment of this original research, TEKTITE -reflux offers a consideration of the context and contingencies of how knowledge is produced.