AQUATICA
Aquatica is a new video installation by Los Angeles–based artist Maggie West that explores the surreal beauty of underwater environments through a blend of time-lapse photography and slow-motion video. Inspired by the weightless motion of plants and animals beneath the surface, the piece combines real elements—such as corn seedlings lit to resemble kelp and betta fish drifting through water—with vibrant colored lighting to create a dreamlike, immersive world. A custom soundscape by Matt Nordstrom, featuring ambient textures and underwater field recordings, deepens the sensory experience and mirrors the drifting rhythm of the visuals. By layering natural imagery with manipulated pacing and tone, Aquatica invites viewers into a suspended space where time flows unpredictably and the boundary between reality and illusion quietly dissolves.
Creation Process
Aquatica marks a new direction in West’s practice, representing her first time working with live animals and slow-motion video. Each betta fish was carefully selected to mirror and enhance the color palette of the surrounding plant landscape, creating a sense of visual continuity between the two. The plants, filmed in time-lapse over several days, were illuminated with shifting combinations of colored lighting to give each specimen a unique tone and rhythm.
Gallery Exhibit
For its debut at Sean Kelly Gallery in Los Angeles, Aquatica was transformed into a fully immersive installation designed to envelop viewers in its surreal underwater world. Presented across four large-scale video channels, the piece surrounded the gallery space with shifting color, motion, and sound, allowing viewers to feel as though they had stepped into the environment itself.
The multi-channel format emphasized the fluidity and depth of the work, while the darkened space and ambient sound design heightened the sense of being submerged. This immersive presentation brought Aquatica to life as a spatial experience, blurring the boundary between viewer and environment.
Digital Billboards
In conjunction with the gallery exhibition, Aquatica was also adapted for two of downtown Los Angeles’ most prominent digital billboards—the Circa screens and the Marriott tower—through a collaboration with StandardVision. These large-scale public displays brought the surreal, underwater-inspired visuals of the piece into the urban landscape, allowing passersby to encounter the work outside the traditional gallery setting. The vibrant colors and slow, drifting motion of the fish and plants played across the skyline, extending the immersive atmosphere of Aquatica into the heart of the city.