UNDERWATER

A 7-channel video installation and operatic disco by Joel Tauber

UNDERWATER is a 7-channel video installation and operatic disco by Joel Tauber that bring environmentalism, trance music, and mysticism together. Tauber sings about pollution and global warming like a Jewish cantor on the Day of Atonement. Electronic dance music arises from depth readings taken from 40 of his scuba dives. 5 videos focus on what Tauber finds underwater: pollution, death, nausea, a beautiful sea turtle, and swaying kelp… A 6th video shows him disappearing into a cloud of air bubbles; and a 7th video shows a visual map of his dives.

UNDERWATER brings environmentalism, trance music, and mysticism together. In a  7-channel video installation that’s also an operatic disco, Tauber sings about pollution and global warming like a Jewish cantor on the Day of Atonement.

UNDERWATER brings environmentalism, trance music, and mysticism together. In a 7-channel video installation that's also an operatic disco, Joel Tauber sings about pollution and global warming like a Jewish cantor on the Day of Atonement. "Global warming, ah ah. Seas rising, ah ah ah. Fish dying, ah ah ah ah. N' coral reefs disappearing."

Electronic dance music arises from depth readings taken from 40 of his scuba dives.

UNDERWATER is a 7-channel video installation and operatic disco by Joel Tauber that bring environmentalism, trance music, and mysticism together. Tauber sings about pollution and global warming like a Jewish cantor on the Day of Atonement. Electronic dance music arises from depth readings taken from 40 of his scuba dives. 5 videos focus on what Tauber finds underwater: pollution, death, nausea, a beautiful sea turtle, and swaying kelp… A 6th video shows him disappearing into a cloud of air bubbles; and a 7th video shows a visual map of his dives.
Joel Tauber, UNDERWATER at KOENIG2 by_robbygreif (Vienna, Austria) (Photo of the installation: Masha Sizikova)

5 videos focus on what Tauber finds underwater: pollution, death, nausea, a beautiful sea turtle, and swaying kelp…

UNDERWATER is a 7-channel video installation and operatic disco by Joel Tauber that bring environmentalism, trance music, and mysticism together. Tauber sings about pollution and global warming like a Jewish cantor on the Day of Atonement. Electronic dance music arises from depth readings taken from 40 of his scuba dives. 5 videos focus on what Tauber finds underwater: pollution, death, nausea, a beautiful sea turtle, and swaying kelp… A 6th video shows him disappearing into a cloud of air bubbles; and a 7th video shows a visual map of his dives.
Joel Tauber, UNDERWATER at KOENIG2 by_robbygreif (Vienna, Austria) (Photo of the installation: Masha Sizikova)

A 6th video shows him disappearing into a cloud of air bubbles, and a 7th video shows a visual map of his dives.

UNDERWATER is a 7-channel video installation and operatic disco by Joel Tauber that bring environmentalism, trance music, and mysticism together. Tauber sings about pollution and global warming like a Jewish cantor on the Day of Atonement. Electronic dance music arises from depth readings taken from 40 of his scuba dives. 5 videos focus on what Tauber finds underwater: pollution, death, nausea, a beautiful sea turtle, and swaying kelp… A 6th video shows him disappearing into a cloud of air bubbles; and a 7th video shows a visual map of his dives.
Joel Tauber, UNDERWATER at KOENIG2 by_robbygreif (Vienna, Austria) (Photo of the installation: Masha Sizikova)

Participation in UNDERWATER can happen both directly, by experiencing the installation and dancing to its music; and also remotely, by responding to the call to send personal stories about global warming, marine life, seas rising, and hurricanes. These stories are included in the exhibitions of the project.

UNDERWATER has been shown at KOENIG2 by_robbygreif (Vienna, Austria) and the Adamski Gallery (Berlin, Germany). A previous version of this project, The Underwater Project: Turning Myself Into Music, was exhibited at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects (Los Angeles, CA, USA), the Adamski Gallery (Berlin, Germany), the Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA, USA), and the Rocky Mountain School of Photography (Missoula, MT, USA).