Coffee and Conversations: in situ

Océane Boulais and Theodora Mautz are coming to the Mingei International Museum on Thursday, October 15, as part of the Coffee and Conversations lecture series. They're the co-editors of in situ, a community-led zine that started at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The talk centers on that zine and how it came together.

in situ is a project where graduate students, postdocs, and staff at Scripps turn their scientific work into art. Things like coral reef surveys, whale encounters, ice cores, and the everyday grind of lab life end up as visual art, photography, poetry, and multimedia storytelling. It's a grassroots effort as much as a publication: the proceeds and community support cover the printing costs, art supplies, and events. Boulais and Mautz will trace its evolution from the first issue, Seas of Change, to the current volume, Countercurrents.

Both speakers are active in the field. Océane Boulais is an applied ocean science PhD candidate and ecoacoustician who broadcasts sound from healthy coral reefs into restoration sites through "acoustic enrichment." Theodora Mautz is a marine biology PhD candidate researching cephalopod reproduction. The session closes with an instrument that lets the audience play the ocean's frequencies.

Coffee and Conversations is a lecture series at Mingei that celebrates human creativity through folk art, craft, and design. This one runs from 10:30 to 11:30 AM in the La Atalaya Foundation Theater, inside the museum at 1439 El Prado in Balboa Park. Tickets are $12 for members and $20 for non-members.