Some people find art and photography exhibitions boring. But I am sure they would change their minds if told about the recent art exhibition that took place at the bottom of the ocean. The venue is the Vandenberg shipwreck off Key West, Florida. Austrian artist Andrea Franke created a collection of digitally layered photographs, which have been displayed on the weather deck of the 522-foot former military ship that stands in 120 feet of water.
The Vandenberg wreck is of great importance to marine study, and has often been billed as an underwater classroom. However, this is the first time that the shipwreck will serve as an underwater gallery. Franke’s exhibit, entitled “Vandenberg: Life Below the Surface” consists of 12 oversized images that have been attached to the ship using strong magnets. If there were any fears that the exhibit would adversely impact marine life or the historic ship itself, Chris Norwood of Florida Straits Diving, who supervised the installation, brushes them aside.
Franke himself is a keen diver. Last year, he visited the Vandenberg and took several photographs of the wreck, which currently serves as an artificial reef. Yet, despite the marine life all around, Franke perceived the ship to be a “dead thing”. That is when he decided to place humans in the backdrop of the ship, because, he says, “I thought that if I put people on it, then there would again be life on that ship.”
Franke then captured human figures doing regular activities: children playing, a woman drying clothes, a little girl waving a butterfly net and so on. The exhibit will be up for the next few weeks.