Message in a Bottle is an evocative installation that merges environmental data, kinetic technology, and sensory storytelling to expose the devastating reality of plastic pollution in our oceans.
Driven by 13 controlled motors and a dataset from NOAA's weather station 46246 (46246 (50°1'2" N 145°10'12" W), — located near the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — the work animates significant wave heights recorded every 30 minutes since 2010. These movements translate raw data into a haunting, poetic choreography that simulates the shifting pulse of an ocean weighed down by waste.
Drawing on her deep personal connection to water, shaped by a coastal upbringing in Ireland, O’Leary channels a lifelong fascination with the sea into a powerful commentary on its current condition. Accompanied by a layered soundscape and atmospheric visual projections, the installation immerses viewers in a space that is both beautiful and unsettling. The sonic composition echoes the ocean’s rhythm — at times harmonious, at times dissonant — intensifying the emotional gravity of the experience.
Unlike traditional visualisations, Message in a Bottle brings environmental data to life. The rhythmic rise and fall of the motors mirror the tides and waves, while the projections introduce an ephemeral quality that contrasts starkly with the permanence of plastic. The work asks viewers to reckon with the sublime scale of ecological collapse and the relentless accumulation of human impact.
Part environmental warning, part technological elegy, Message in a Bottle embodies O’Leary’s interdisciplinary practice — one that fuses data, art, and environmental advocacy. It is both a meditation on water’s beauty and a call to action, challenging us to confront the systems we’re entangled in and the future we’re shaping.
