
The Lost City: Between Art and Science February 1 to May 12, 2023
In September 2018, artist/scientist Dr. Anna Davidson was invited by USC geology professor and oceanographer Dr. Susan Q. Lang to be part of an expedition to study the Lost City as an artist-at-sea. The Lost City is a hydrothermal vent field located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the bottom of the seafloor roughly between South Carolina and north Africa. They spent a month aboard the research vessel Atlantis and used a remotely operated, deep-submergence vehicle to collect samples and record video on multiple cameras. Based on her experience of being at sea and the documentary video footage, Davidson created a body of artwork about hydrothermal vents and the threats deep-sea mining poses to them. This exhibit juxtaposes Davidson’s artwork with scientific specimens and data collected by USC researchers to ask what visual art and science disciplines share, and how artists and scientists might support each other’s work.