New paper! Sensing the Ocean through the Exquisite Corpse ArtScience method

We are pleased to share that our colleague from the Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Aleksandra Cherkasheva, contributed to a recently published paper that merges scientific and artistic perspectives on the challenges the ocean faces today.  The transdisciplinary paper “Sensing the Ocean through the Exquisite Corpse ArtScience method” was published in Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (University of California Press).

In this paper, a team of natural scientists, social scientists, and artists adapted the Exquisite Corpse collaborative process as a transdisciplinary Art–Science research method. The Exquisite Corpse functions as a participatory approach that helps surface not only scientific ideas, but also values, emotions, and underlying assumptions that often remain implicit in interdisciplinary work. The findings suggest that creative collaboration can support early problem framing, strengthen research teams, and enhance reflexivity in ocean research, particularly when addressing complex ocean sustainability challenges.

For BioEcoOcean member Aleksandra Cherkasheva, participation in this creative project was highly rewarding. Beyond broadening her ways of understanding the ocean, this experience also influenced her scientific practice: as a result of engaging in the Exquisite Corpse process, Aleksandra began incorporating more experimental approaches alongside traditional methods to estimate phytoplankton productivity in the Arctic.

Read the publication here

Aleksandra Cherkasheva’s contribution was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 869383 (ECOTIP) and by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101136748 (BioEcoOcean).