Here, Twice a Day, We Are Held by the Ocean

Austen Camille Weymueller has an outdoor installation called Here, Twice a Day, We Are Held by the Ocean at The Quay at Penn's Landing Marina, right next to Spruce Street Harbor Park. It's free and open to the public, and all ages are welcome.

The work is a mix of sculpture and augmented reality animation, and it's built around the rhythms of the Delaware River. The title comes from the way the ocean's tides shift the river's waters twice a day, and that's exactly what the piece tracks. When you look through your phone or another device, you'll see animations that change with the tides, showing how the moon, the water, and the city are bound together. It's not a loop—the animations shift in real time, and they pull in the sights and sounds around you, like passing boats and trains, so the experience changes depending on when you're there.

Weymueller is a Canadian-American artist whose work usually draws on the places she visits, blending sculpture, writing, sound, and storytelling to help people connect with the land around them. This piece is rooted in a specific local reality: by 2080, rising sea levels could flood parts of Philadelphia. The installation brings that story of rising seas and a changing environment to life right on the waterfront. An expanded version was permanently installed at the Quay courtesy of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

Because it's an outdoor installation, you can stop by whenever you're down by the river. It's free and open to all ages, so it works as a quick stop on a walk or a longer look if you're hanging out at the marina.