Starting Friday night, the Brooklyn Bridge facade will transform into an 18-minute deep-sea spectacle, projecting archival marine illustrations, high-definition ocean floor footage, and whale vocalizations onto one of the city's most iconic structures. The free installation, called Aqua Cosmos: The Hudson Canyon, runs from 7 to 10 p.m. on both Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26, and is best viewed from Emily Roebling Plaza in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The project pairs the Wildlife Conservation Society with multimedia artist Anita Glesta, using the bridge itself as a canvas, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. The 18-minute piece blends archival marine illustrations from 1925 with 2025 deep-sea video footage from NOAA and audio recordings of humpback, fin, and North Atlantic right whale vocalizations, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Those whale sounds were captured by WCS's New York Bight team as part of its ongoing acoustic monitoring off the city's coast.
A Canyon Comparable in Scale to the Grand Canyon, Hidden 100 Miles Offshore
Hudson Canyon sits roughly 100 miles off the coast of New York City and is the largest submarine canyon along the U.S. Atlantic coast, per the Eagle's reporting. Federal data from the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries shows the canyon plunges up to 2.5 miles, or 10,500 feet, deep and extends 350 miles seaward, rivaling the Grand Canyon in scale. Glacial runoff carved the underwater feature during the last Ice Age more than 10,000 years ago.
The installation also commemorates more than 100 years since WCS pioneered an early scientific exploration of the canyon, the Eagle notes. Specifically, it marks the 101st anniversary of the 1925 Arcturus Oceanographic Expedition, during which female artists aboard WCS's vessel illustrated deep-sea marine life before underwater photography existed, according to the artist's website. That 1925 voyage was led by naturalist William Beebe.
Modern Footage Meets Century-Old Illustrations
The contemporary imagery in Aqua Cosmos traces back to a two-week NOAA expedition in September 2025, when ocean explorers and coral scientists used the remotely operated vehicle Global Explorer to capture high-definition deep-sea footage and collect environmental DNA across the canyon, according to Guice Offshore. That cruise evaluated deep-sea corals, octopuses, and fish habitats. Glesta was appointed Artist-in-Residence with WCS to collaborate with scientists and review that footage while building the installation.
Glesta has a track record with large-scale environmental projections. She previously created WATERSHED, an international public art piece about climate change and flooding that was projected onto London's National Theatre in 2015.
Why WCS Is Pushing to Make the Canyon a Sanctuary
WCS promotes awareness of Hudson Canyon and its ecology specifically to protect the space, the Eagle reports. That mission has a clear regulatory target: WCS originally nominated Hudson Canyon for National Marine Sanctuary status in November 2016, and NOAA officially initiated the formal designation process in June 2022 to establish what would be the first marine sanctuary off New York and New Jersey, according to the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. The agency has kept the nomination active on its inventory through at least February 2027.
Aqua Cosmos is a partnership between the Department of Transportation's Art Program, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Glesta. The project moves forward under NYC DOT's Art Program, which permits community-partnered temporary installations — including projections, murals, and sculptures — on municipal transportation infrastructure for up to 11 months, per the agency. NYC DOT Art has permitted more than 500 temporary public artworks citywide.
The Marine Life Already Showing Up Close to Shore
The canyon's pull on rare ocean life has already made local headlines this year. Hoodline previously reported that passengers on a wildlife tour out of Brooklyn recorded two endangered whale sharks near Hudson Canyon this month, an encounter tied to the nutrient-rich deep-water upwelling that creates a vital feeding habitat for migratory species. Giant oceanic manta rays can have wingspans reaching up to 29 feet. The canyon also supports populations of sperm whales, sea turtles, and cold-water corals, per the agency.
Alongside the nighttime projections, WCS and the New York Aquarium are hosting the free Hudson Canyon to NY Harbor Festival in Brooklyn Bridge Park on September 25 and 26, featuring STEM activities about local marine ecosystems, according to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The festival marks the one-year anniversary of both NOAA's September 2025 research cruise and the Arcturus expedition anniversary being commemorated by the projection.
Both the projection and the daytime festival are free and open to the public, giving New Yorkers a rare chance to glimpse an ecosystem that exists 100 miles beyond their sightline — and that federal regulators are still deciding whether to protect.
