Like There Is No Tomorrow Lina Dib with Taylor Knapps Presented by SpaceHL at Swale House 15 in Nolan Park, Governors Island June 23 - July 21, 2019

“It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.” – Rachel Carson Like There is No Tomorrow is a large-scale interactive video installation that examines species decline in the Anthropocene. Footage of the Gulf of Mexico’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is brought to the surface on Governor's Island at Swale House. As viewers move in front of the work, the underwater images of the corals turn white. Watery and whimsical, slow and ephemeral, this work is a reflection on the root of the word disaster – to be under a bad star, headed in the wrong direction. By tuning in to these at once beautiful and troubled places, we may begin to find new stars, to find new ways to navigate and redesign our relationships within natural systems. Commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists, and part of the nation-wide Science Rising movement, the work highlights the important role of science in civic engagement. Special thanks to Dr. Adrienne Correa and NOAA Scientists at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary; Paul Middendorf; Mary Mattingly; ’s Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences; and Rice University’s Strategic Initiatives.

Lina Dib was born in Montreal and currently lives and works in . Dib is a multidisciplinary artist and anthropologist. Her installations and compositions range from the experimental to the ethnographic and investigate socio-technical and ecological change. Dib is a teacher and fellow at Rice University in the Program in Writing and Communication and the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences. Her work has been supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council, AMIDA’s European training program, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Moody Center for the Arts among others; and has been presented at venues including Lawndale Art Center Houston, Yerba Buena Gardens San Francisco, MOP Projects Sydney, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Day For Night, Galveston Arts Center, SpaceHL, the Whitney Biennial 2017, and Johnson Space Center NASA.

For this piece, Dib is collaborating with Houston-based programmer and interaction designer Taylor Knapps. Knapps’ work has been shown across at venues including Day for Night, SXSW, and Free Press Summer Fest. Together Dib and Knapps play with images, sounds, code and other species.

Press: Union of Concerned Scientists. 2018. “Art for Science Rising: Artists drawing attention to the role science plays in our democracy,” Dec. Santiago, A. 2018. “Bringing Science to Midtown Streets,” Clutch City Science. Nov 1. Union of Concerned Scientists. 2018. “Artist Brings Coral Reef to Texas Pedestrians,” Oct. 30. Stuckey, A. 2018. “Coral Reef Art Exhibit to Show How Humans Can Damage These Ecosystems,” , Oct.3.