Ocean Wonders

Art, Science & Marine Conservation

Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, art collector, ocean activist and owner of 37m Dardanella, has spent over a decade traversing the high seas asking herself, “How can we approach the ocean as cultural practitioners and producers?” What began as a private endeavour to circumnavigate the American continent by yacht soon developed into a floating think tank that looks at processes around science, conservation, policy and art. The Vripack-designed Dardanella has facilitated ground-breaking scientific discoveries, elaborate acoustic artworks and the most intriguing case of unresolved treasure hunting known to man.

Key to it all is the access that Thyssen-Bornemisza grants to a community of experts. In 2010, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson and Norwegian sound artist Jana Winderen were among those invited to join a circumnavigation of Iceland. Chris was looking for blue whales, Jana was focused on shallow cold water reefs, but both recorded immersive soundscapes that blew the minds of marine scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the world’s independent leader in ocean discovery.

“The scientists used hydrophone recordings for their own research, but when we played them the artists’ audio in Dardanella’s ambisonic studio – comprising 34 speakers embedded in the salon – the quality of playback was like nothing they had ever heard,” says Thyssen-Bornemisza. “It was one of those catalyst moments where we realised the value of bringing artists and scientists together and the types of collaborations that could emerge. It became our working hypothesis going forward.”

A multitude of conservation projects aboard Dardanella followed. In the Lau Islands, they assisted a Paramount Chief in getting a pristine reef declared as a marine protected area. In Dominican Republic, they took a coral reef specialist for the first time in 25 years to the Silver Bank to survey the sanctuary for marine mammals. And in Costa Rica, Dardanella led a conservation project, which remains ongoing, for the pelagic species of Cocos Island.

From the Lau Islands to the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, Dardanella has fostered conservation efforts that continue to shape and protect vital marine ecosystems worldwide.

“We tagged 24 sharks from four different species and traced their migration from Guadalupe all the way down to Galapagos,”

Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza

Owner of Dardanella

“We tagged 24 sharks from four different species and traced their migration from Guadalupe all the way down to the Galapagos,” she enthuses. The landmark project was the first time that a scientist could be in the water every day of the year to monitor migratory patterns and has become a framework for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

Cocos Island is also the location of Dardanella’s most elusive operation yet – buried treasure. Inspired by the legendary Treasure of Lima (reported to be worth up to £160 million in today’s money) and knowing that the world heritage site, which protects the world’s largest congregation of scalloped hammerhead sharks, is also the only place on the planet where treasure hunting is illegal, Thyssen-Bornemisza decided to leave a treasure chest of her own.

“We contacted 40 artists that we had worked with, from conceptual artists Marina Abramović and Lawrence Weiner, to multidisciplinary artist Doug Aitken, and created a unique collection of contemporary artworks that we then buried,” smiles Thyssen-Bornemisza. “We took the GPS coordinates, turned it into an 8,600 figure code and 3D printed it onto a steel scroll –
a treasure map of sorts – that we auctioned off in New York. In a cool twist to the plot, the guy who bought the map was into precision engineering and wanted to crack the code, but it’s up to the Costa Rican government to allow him to retrieve the treasure, so the artwork is yet to be recovered.”

Beneath the surface, Dardanella has unlocked extraordinary underwater worlds, from the remote Sepik River in Papua New Guinea to a spellbinding bioluminescent night dive in the Solomon Islands.

Thyssen-Bornemisza’s international art and advocacy foundation, TBA21, which she founded in 2002, now includes the TBA21–Academy, a research centre solely committed to the ocean. Its main content provider is Dardanella, a yacht that she was immediately drawn to for its fishing boat-cum-explorer aesthetic. As well as plentiful artworks on the interior, the boat also wears its artistic heritage on its exterior in the form of a pixelated graphic created by a Berlin-based design studio.

“My friend Johnny Pigozzi, an art collector, photographer and fashion designer, owned Amazon Express and he inspired me to have a boat with a bit of marine dazzle,” she says.

Alongside ocean activism and art, Thyssen-Bornemisza is an avid diver, and Dardanella boasts a serious adventure dive operation. Highlight dives have taken place in Raja Ampat, the Galapagos and the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea, not to mention a bioluminescent night dive with marine biologist David Gruber in the Solomon Islands.

“David was diving with blue light to see bioluminescent coral when a hawksbill turtle swam into the lights and lit up,” says Thyssen-Bornemisza.

It was recorded by National Geographic as one of the 20 most important discoveries of the decade – no small achievement for any boat, but another resounding success story from one of the world’s most unassuming adventure yachts.

Art, Science & Marine Conservation

From the Lau Islands to the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, Dardanella has fostered conservation efforts that continue to shape and protect vital marine ecosystems worldwide.

Beneath the surface, Dardanella has unlocked extraordinary underwater worlds, from the remote Sepik River in Papua New Guinea to a spellbinding bioluminescent night dive in the Solomon Islands.

Explore More

Expertise

The Studio