Ocean Apocalypse

EXHIBITION

Mar 20

Written By Eugene Riconneaus

Paris, Grand Palais, April 24th-26th, 2025

Last April, I was invited as an artist to present my multidisciplinary approach blending scientific experimentation and artistic biofabrication with the ocean.
ChangeNOW gave me the keys to an empty Grand Palais, allowing me to express this vision and exhibit works that carry deep symbolic weight for me. It was a childhood dream, but also a tribute to a community that is too often forgotten: fishermen, aquaculture farmers, scientists, and changemakers — the people who help us know and understand the ocean. This photoshoot is dedicated to them. From the ocean to the laboratory, from the lab to the couture atelier, and finally to the Grand Palais. As in my installations I worked with ocean materials, pigments, fibers and textiles, for this special project I carried the same elements forward, some of which transformed into a dress by a haute couture atelier. A project brought to life through the collective efforts of our remarkable team. from seaweed and valorized shellfish byproducts. Thank you to the Grand Palais Rmn. Thank you to ChangeNOW. And above all: thank you to the ocean communities who inspire this work.

Eugène Riconneaus

Ocean silk fabrics by ER Ocean Recherche

Ocean couture – Première robe.
Dress design: Eugène Riconneaus.
Material innovations: ER Ocean Recherche.
Blue pigment: personal creation of Eugène Riconneaus.
Production: Atelier 7474, Paris

Cyanobacteria
polarised light micrograph

Ocean Apocalypse, Grand Palais 2025

The first couture dress born of marine biomass — transformed through lab science and couture atelier savoir-faire.
Photographed by Eugène Riconneaus inside the rarely empty Grand Palais, thanks to the support of ChangeNOW 2025 and Grand Palais Rmn.
A childhood dream made real — with the Atlantic Ocean where I grew up, silently present in every thread.

Photoshoot captured by Eugène Riconneaus. Thanks to: ChangeNOW and Grand Palais Rmn

This artwork is composed of eight glass tubes, each containing a distinct hue of blue derived from cyanobacteria. Displayed as a gradient, the tubes reflect the natural biodegradation of the pigment over time — from vibrant saturation to subtle fading. Each tube represents one month in the life of the color, forming an evolving portrait of living matter and its impermanence. «Cyanoscape» is both a material archive and a meditation on transformation — where science, time, and marine life converge in shades of blue.

Eugène Riconneaus
Audrey Freeman
ER Ocean Recherche
Atelier 7474
Deux Deux Deux Studio

Merci à ChangeNOW 2025, Santiago LEFEBVRE, Ronan DELACROIX and Grand Palais Rmn.

From the ocean, to the lab, to next

The journey of ER Ocean Recherche unfolds from the ocean to the laboratory, and from the laboratory to Change NOW at Grand Palais, passing through ateliers of French craftsmanship and using art as a catalyst for transformation. It is a search for meaning through matter, a creation of completely new materials – Designed by an artist, created by the ocean.

For one of his installations, Eugène laid a still with a blue pigment extracted from marine cyanobacteria on the floor of the Grand Palais. Around it, seaweed framed the space, while experimental materials, developed from algae and valorized shellfish by-products, were presented in petri dishes stolen from the lab.

Is art stealing from science, or is science stealing from art? Nothing is taken, everything is exchanged. Between art and science there is no appropriation, only a continuous dialogue, a shared language where each discipline nourishes the other.

By giving a voice to the ocean through art, we aim to foster a deeper connection to marine ecosystems. Not only: a designer’s perspective enters the laboratory, reshaping the research process itself.

“The job of designers has changed. I now design in microns: to think big, we need to start extra small”, claims Eugène, Making biomimicry a foundational pillar of our lab. A lab where each innovation begins with a moodboard, every material carries meaning and beauty within itself. And every experiment, no matter how technical, remains anchored to its point of origin: the ocean.

SEE THE ART EXHIBITION

Eugène Riconneaus, Petri Dishes, 2019-24 Artwork Grown in Lab – Experiments from Marine Biomass (Seafood Waste, Macro Algae, Micro Algae, Invasive Algae) ©️Eugène Riconneaus / ADAGP, Paris 2025

Imagine standing at the edge of the ocean, collecting extraordinary resources like seaweed and shells, shaped in the depths of the seabed, as if their creator had left them on the shore. Yet this is not an abandonment, it’s a gift. A passing on to the next recipient.

Imagine bringing these elements into the laboratory, where they are transformed into precious fibers and textiles through a long, complex process, one that demands time and precision. During this period, every night you have the same dream: to carry these materials to a place that embodies technological innovation: the Grand Palais.

Then one morning, the textiles are ready. Lustrous and waiting only to be altered by expert hands. The form is already clear: between one dream and the other, countless hours of insomnia allowed to design a couture dress.

At that point, the path becomes clear too. To entrust these materials to the highest expression of savoir-faire, collaborating with one of the finest haute couture ateliers in the world. That is exactly what we did. We brought our materials and the design of a long gown to a legendary Parisian atelier, located near the Opéra. Few words were needed. In the hands of these exceptional artisans, tailors whose knowledge goes beyond techniques, the magic unfolded naturally. In just a few days, the dress came to life.

Then we let movement complete the story. The journey was ready to continue.

VIEW ER OCEAN RECHERCHE PROJECT