Anita Glesta to present Aqua Cosmos in Brooklyn and Genoa
The immersive artwork dedicated to the Hudson Canyon will illuminate the Brooklyn Bridge on September 25–26, before being presented at Genoa’s Science Festival on October 23
BROOKLYN/GENOA — Internationally recognised multimedia artist Anita Glesta will premiere AQUA COSMOS: The Hudson Canyon in New York on September 25 and 26, 2026, before presenting the project in Genoa, Italy, on October 23 as part of the Science Festival.
The Genoa presentation will take place at the villa of the Bogliasco Foundation, where Glesta was a Fellow in 2008, bringing the project’s dialogue between art, science and environmental conservation to an international audience.
Created in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and ArtW, and presented through the New York City Department of Transportation’s art programme, NYC DOT Art, AQUA COSMOS is an eighteen-minute immersive projection that will transform the Brooklyn Bridge into a gateway to one of the world’s most remarkable marine environments.
The installation will be projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge and viewed from Emily Warren Roebling Plaza in Brooklyn Bridge Park on September 25 and 26, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Located approximately 100 miles off New York City, the Hudson Canyon is the largest submarine canyon along the Atlantic Coast. Comparable in scale and depth to the Grand Canyon, it supports an extraordinary variety of marine life, including whales, sea turtles, sharks, tuna, cold-water corals and species essential to commercial and recreational fisheries.
The artwork builds on WCS’s longstanding efforts to raise awareness of the Hudson Canyon and secure its protection. In 2016, WCS nominated the area for consideration as a National Marine Sanctuary and continues to lead a broad coalition of scientists, conservation organisations, fishing interests, businesses and community stakeholders supporting its designation.
“I’ve spent much of my life exploring what lies beneath the surface—of memory, of the body and of the landscapes we inhabit,” says Anita Glesta. “When I discovered that such an extraordinary marine ecosystem exists just beyond New York City, it felt like another revelation. AQUA COSMOS: The Hudson Canyon grew from that moment of discovery.”
The project also honours the legacy of WCS’s 1925 Arcturus Expedition, one of the earliest scientific explorations of the Hudson Canyon. Led by naturalist William Beebe, the expedition included pioneering women artists and scientists whose illustrations offered the public some of its first glimpses of the deep sea.
These historic works, preserved in the WCS Archives at the Bronx Zoo, are combined with footage recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in September 2025 using remotely operated vehicles. Blending archival images, journals, animation, painting and sound, Glesta’s video connects more than a century of ocean exploration and celebrates the enduring relationship between art, science and conservation.
Event Details
What:
AQUA COSMOS: The Hudson Canyon — an eighteen-minute immersive public artwork by Anita Glesta, created in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society.
When:
Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26, 2026
7:00–10:00 p.m.
Where:
Brooklyn Bridge, viewed from Emily Warren Roebling Plaza, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Admission:
Free and open to the public
Genoa Presentation:
October 23, 2026, during the Genoa Science Festival
Bogliasco Foundation villa, Genoa, Italy
About Anita Glesta
Anita Glesta is a Brooklyn-based multimedia artist working across painting, animation, immersive video, sculpture and site-specific installation. Drawing on scientific research, history and lived experience, she creates visually compelling works that engage broad public audiences.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Peking University, the Parrish Art Museum, the Hudson River Museum, White Columns and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She has received grants, fellowships and awards from organisations including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Australia Council for the Arts.
About the Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places through science, conservation action, education and public engagement. Based at the Bronx Zoo, WCS operates conservation programmes in more than 55 countries and throughout the world’s oceans, as well as five wildlife parks in New York City.
WCS and the New York Aquarium have worked for decades to study and raise awareness of the New York Bight and the Hudson Canyon.
About ArtW
ArtW is a nonprofit organisation promoting women across creative disciplines through advocacy, curation and education. Its programmes bring collectors, curators and art enthusiasts together with leading international women artists.
About NYC DOT Art
NYC DOT Art partners with organisations and professional artists to present temporary public artworks on New York City Department of Transportation property throughout the five boroughs. Since 2008, the programme has produced more than 550 temporary artworks across the city.