As Above, So Below: Biennale Collateral Exhibition Explores Ocean Futures

As Above, So Below, a collateral event of the 61st Venice Biennale, transforms the deconsecrated church of Fabbrica H3 on Giudecca Island into an immersive ecological meditation on the ocean. Organized by One Ocean Foundation and the curatorial team ZEITGEIST19 (Elizabeth Zhivkova and Farah Piriye Coene), the exhibition runs until June 8, 2026, coinciding with World Oceans Day. The title references the hermetic principle of correspondence, exploring interdependence between atmosphere and abyss, human and non-human. Highlights include Marshmallow Laser Feast's 17-minute audiovisual installation 'Seeing Echoes in the Mind of the Whale,' featuring cetacean vocalizations, installed beneath Girolamo Pellegrini's 1672 fresco 'Assumption of the Virgin.' Suad Gara's documentary 'Requiem for the Caspian' examines the disappearing Caspian Sea off Pirallahi Island, Baku, paired with Almagul Menlibayeva's multimedia 'Water Older Than the Sun (Caspian).' Andrea Crespi's holographic 'Thetis' reimagines a sea nymph within a primordial jellyfish. Other works: Yoko Shimizu's 'Tides of Light: Meadows of the Abyss' (bioluminescent plankton video), Antoine Bertin's 'Fish String Theory' (sound installation using Mediterranean scorpionfish sounds), Elnara Nasirli's 'Whispering Forest' (bioelectric olive tree converted to music), and Orkhan Mammadov's AI generative 'Conversations with Nature’s Memory.' The exhibition is recognized as a UN Ocean Decade Action and part of UNESCO Blue Thread.