"Trophic State Index" Art Gallery Pop-Up Exhibit Concludes

The Limestone University Art Gallery will host a one-week pop-up exhibit, “Trophic State Index,” beginning on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Hines & Riggins Center. The exhibit, created by artists Claudia O’Steen and Aly Ogasian, is a research-based work that examines the effect of climate change on the Keweenaw, Lake Superior, and Great Lakes water systems. Consisting of a video installation and other two-dimensional pieces, “Trophic State Index” explores the artists’ varied and extensive observations of the lakes, as well as the various methods use to catalog them. In addition to the exhibit, the artists are working on a new project, which Limestone University plans to host in 2026. O’Steen and Ogasian work collaboratively to produce multimedia, research-based installations. Their work incorporates sculpture, digital media, drawing, writing, and photography. Their practice takes a flexible, idea driven approach. Their projects always involve fieldwork, and installations incorporate artifacts and data collected from the landscape itself. The work focuses on their relationship with the changing environment, and uses methodologies borrowed from citizen science to critique traditional notions of exploration and conquest.