ARTIS Aquarium Announces Deep-Sea Experience

(eap) The recently reopened ARTIS Aquarium in Amsterdam will expand its offering this autumn with a new deep-sea experience. For the project, the zoo is collaborating with Danish-Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson. His multisensory installation “Deep Seeing Currents” will invite visitors to engage with the largely unexplored world of the deep sea.

“As you approach Deep Seeing Currents, you are slowly enveloped by darkness and the sounds of life underwater, layers of oceanic cacophony – whale songs, rumbling of hydrothermal vents, and human-made noises, among others. The vibrations can be felt throughout your entire body, emulating the experience of pressure in the deep sea. Above and around you, lights flash and seem to descend like the hypnotic circulation of marine snow, the organic and inorganic particles essential to life in the deep sea,” Elíasson explains, describing the planned experience.

Using sound, light and touch, the installation will make the otherworldly environment of the deep sea physically tangible in the aquarium’s rotunda. The artwork will integrate seamlessly into the concept of the modernised aquarium, which demonstrates how closely all life on Earth is connected to water – from the deepest ocean to everyday life on land. Deep Seeing Currents will be on display at the ARTIS Aquarium from 3 October 2026. ■