An immersive VR experience

Virtual
Aquapolis

New York Harbor
1500 to the near future

About the project

Chronicling 500 years of ecological change in the hidden underwater world of New York Harbor.

Virtual Aquapolis examines the transformation of New York harbor from a rich, biodiverse maze of marshlands, reefs and estuaries into the urban waterways surrounding NYC today.

Visitors become the water itself: moving through the harbor as currents and tides, shifting volume to filter through oysters and jellyfish, and exploring microscopic lifeforms and pollutants.

Over five centuries, from 1500 to the near future, the underwater world reveals an ever-changing mosaic of flora, fauna, and human artifacts as the burgeoning metropolis above transforms the biosphere below.

VR screenshot

process photo

We are curious about VR’s potential to serve as a philosophical space, offer radically new perspectives, and to connect — not disconnect — from one’s environment.

In every era you experience the fragility and resilience of New York Harbor’s aquatic ecology — an urban ecosystem from which you are both inseparable and the driving force of change.

The experience unfolds in five scenes, each depicting a key era in the Harbor’s environmental history. Changes in the color and quality of the water function as a dramatic arc.

Against the backdrop of a refracted human world, you encounter migrating and endemic species, predators, and prey as habitats thrive, adapt, disappear, and rebound in response to human activity.

Ambisonic hydrophone recordings and spatial audio design translate ecological processes into vibrational experiences: waves breaking against seawalls, sediment shifting across the harbor floor, boat engines reverberating through piers, and marine organisms communicating through tone and pulse.

As the harbor’s water, you become a collective force in constant transformation — from sacred resource to global corridor to extraction, sacrifice and remediation zone — toward a future shaped by humans’ ability to change.

While urban waterways are often regarded as sacrifice zones, Virtual Aquapolis highlights the diversity and resilience of New York Harbor’s marine ecosystems, challenging the divide between “urban” and “natural.”

Experiencing the harbor’s recovery — from industrial murk to growing biodiversity — offers a visceral sense of hope in a space long linked to ecological despair. New York Harbor’s story mirrors that of coastal cities worldwide — facing climate change while caught in a paradox.

A northern Everglades fundamentally altered by centuries of profit-driven exploitation, New York Harbor’s ecology is slowly regenerating. Still, dredging, dumping, and industrial pollution persist alongside rapid waterfront development, shrinking regulations, and rising sea levels.

Co-Directors

Laura
Chipley Multimedia Artist · SUNY Old Westbury

full bio

Laura Grace Chipley is a Queens-based multimedia artist whose work examines the relationships between culture, ecology, technology, and power. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. She received an A Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art in 2015 and NEH Digital Projects for the Public grants in 2020 and 2024. Associate Professor, American Studies/Media and Communications, SUNY Old Westbury.

Samara
Smith Documentary & Emerging Media · SUNY Old Westbury

full bio

Samara Smith works at the intersection of documentary, social practice, and emerging technology. NEH Digital Projects for the Public Grant 2020 & 2024. Exhibited at the Hammer Museum, New York Transit Museum, Queens Museum, and more. Co-founded the Media Innovation Center at SUNY Old Westbury. 2022 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service.

Since 2018 we have been collaborating to create site-specific interventions, immersive experiences, and participatory media projects about the dynamic relationship between human culture and ecology. We collaborate with communities to collectively envision New York City’s ecological past, present, and future.

We use emerging technologies to reveal the unseen dimensions of urban spaces and the ecosystems we inhabit. We approach immersive media as a civic and ecological tool — a way to shift perspective and deepen public engagement. Our work operates across art, science, and technology to create public experiences rooted in place.

Team

Winslow PorterFounder/Creative Director, New Reality Co / Forager

full bio

Founding member of ONX Studio, New Inc Y2 + Mentor, NYU faculty.

Matt McCorkleEmmy-nominated Digital Artist and Systems Thinker

full bio

Onassis ONX Member. Emmy-nominated digital artist and systems thinker working at the intersection of art and technology.

Todd BryantDirector of Production, Integrated Design and Media, NYU Tandon

full bio

Director of Production for the Integrated Design and Media Program at the Tandon School of Engineering, NYU.

Louise LesselLead Creative Technologist & New Media Artist; NYU faculty

full bio

Specializes in immersive systems and projection mapping. NYU faculty.

Kea PedersenNYU student

full bio

NYU student contributor to the Virtual Aquapolis project.

Shimeng ZhouNYU graduate

full bio

NYU graduate contributor to the Virtual Aquapolis project.

Haoren ZhongNYU graduate

full bio

NYU graduate contributor to the Virtual Aquapolis project.

Thank you NYU Tandon’s XR Lab @The Yard!!!!

Consultants

Erin BeckerVisitor Services & Volunteer Coordinator, Long Island Maritime Museum

full bio

BA in Anthropology and History, MA in History, Stony Brook. Her research focused on Long Island Native people — the Shinnecock, Montaukett, and Unkechaug nations — in maritime industries. Will consult on documentary content, user experience, and design of the interpretive digital kiosk element.

Liz CannerAward-winning Filmmaker and Digital Artist; Director, Astrea Media Inc.

full bio

Producer/director/writer of The Lost City of Mer and Orgasm Inc. (New York Times “Critic’s Pick”). Brown University graduate with 60+ awards including an NEA grant and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and Radcliffe Institute at Harvard. Will consult on narrative, UX, and technical specs.

Dr. Melissa CheckerAssociate Professor, Urban Studies, Queens College / CUNY Grad Center

full bio

PhD from NYU in Environmental Psychology. Hagedorn Professor of Urban Studies at Queens College. Research focuses on environmental justice and urban sustainability. Co-editor of Sustainability in the Global City; author of Polluted Promises (2007 AHS Book Award). Will consult on future scenarios for NY Harbor.

Dr. Michael ChiarappaAssociate Professor, History, Quinnipiac University

full bio

PhD, History, University of Pennsylvania. Active public historian with collaborations at the Smithsonian, National Park Service, and Mystic Seaport. Research focuses on marine-related environmental and cultural history, including NYC’s oyster barges and Delaware Bay.

Jeremy DennisArtist and Tribal Member, Shinnecock Indian Nation

full bio

Artist and tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, Southampton, NY. His project On This Site maps culturally significant Native American sites on Long Island. 2016 Dreamstarter Grant recipient. Will bring expertise in NY Native American history and interdisciplinary research methods.

Robin EspinolaDocumentary Producer and Writer; Eric Barnouw Prize recipient

full bio

25+ years creating historical programs for PBS. 2019 Eric Barnouw Prize for co-writing The Chinese Exclusion Act with Ric Burns. Producer of The Pilgrims, Death and the Civil War, Into the Deep, and series archivist for NEW YORK: A Documentary Film.

Dominika KselVR/AR Documentary Artist and Educator, City Tech

full bio

Working on a project for Reclaim Pride using 360 Video, AR and holographic projections. Produced VR for Montefiore Hospital and a climate change project featured on the Center for the Humanities website. Teaches New Media at City Tech.

Dr. David SollEnvironmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

full bio

PhD History, Brandeis University. Author of Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York Water Supply. Will help develop humanities themes around the environmental and political history of New York Harbor.

Kate StevensonFounder, DotDot Creative Studio

full bio

Founder of award-winning DotDot creative studio. Created SoundLab, a VR installation where sounds are given 3D visual form. Will consult on VR technical specifications, user experience, and sustainability plan.

Dr. David StradlingProfessor, History, University of Cincinnati

full bio

PhD, History, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Author of The Nature of New York (Cornell, 2010) and Smokestacks and Progressives (Johns Hopkins, 1999). Current research focuses on dredging and underwater infrastructure. Co-editor, Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy series at Temple University Press.

Dr. John WaldmanProfessor of Biology, Queens College

full bio

PhD, Evolutionary Biology, AMNH / CUNY. 20 years at the Hudson River Foundation. Books: Heartbeats in the Muck, Running Silver, The Dance of the Flying Gurnards.

Curtis ZunighaDirector of Cultural Resources, Delaware Tribe; Co-founder, The Lenape Center

full bio

Enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma. Director of Cultural Resources for 30+ years; chief 1994–1998. Co-founder of the Lenape Center, NYC. Tradition-bearer with proficiency in Lenape language, history, customs, singing, and social dances.

Process & History

photo

2019

The beginning

Working with student divers sparked our curiosity about what NYC’s underwater world might reveal about the city’s ecological history and our evolving relationships with urban waterways.

This work also taught us that the harbor water is too murky for a 360° camera to reveal much of anything. We decided to learn how to make a VR experience in a game engine.

2020
–2023

Research & Development

NEH Discovery Grant — $30K — 2021

We began researching harbor history and immersive design. A $30K NEH Discovery Grant in 2021 convened humanities scholars, scientists, tribal leaders, cultural workers, and creative technologists to advise us.

After a year of R&D we submitted a $100K prototyping proposal toward a future $400K production award. It was rejected. We revised, reapplied, and won a 2024 NEH prototyping grant.

photo

2025
–2026

Making it ourselves

$45K assembled

As we were in the process of hiring a VR production company, D.O.G.E terminated our NEH grant for DEI language. With the funding gone, so were the constraints. We doubled down on the experimental dimension — as well as our thought crimes — and jumped into learning to make VR ourselves.

We pulled together $45K in small grants and, with help from Todd Bryant (NYU Tandon IDM), connected with VR artist Winslow Porter, who joined as producer and mentor, and assembled our prototype team.

An 8-month LMCC residency on Governors Island allowed us space to work, reconnect with BOP and WoW, and build new partnerships with Seaweed City, Hudson River Park’s Wet Lab, and the Climate Imaginarium.