An immersive VR experience

Virtual
Aquapolis

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

Virtual Aquapolis chronicles 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 and shifting volume to filter through oysters and jellyfish to explore 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 the surface transforms the biosphere below.

As water, visitors flow through time as currents and tides to witness an ever-changing mosaic of flora, fauna, and human activity and filter through oysters and jellyfish to encounter microscopic lifeforms and pollutants.

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

Addressing what lies ahead begins with recognizing ourselves as intrinsic parts of an interconnected ecological system.

New York Harbor’s story mirrors that of coastal cities worldwide—facing climate change while caught in a paradox.

Co-Directors

Laura
Chipley

full bio

Laura Grace Chipley is a Queens-based multimedia artist whose work examines the relationships between culture, ecology, technology, and power. Working across documentary, new media, and social practice, she develops participatory projects that combine community collaboration with emerging technologies to investigate environmental issues and the impacts of resource extraction.

Her work has been exhibited internationally and featured in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. lauragracechipley.com

Samara
Smith

full bio

Samara Smith is a New York-based documentary artist and educator whose work explores who gets to tell the story. Working across public space, emerging technology, and social practice, she creates participatory experiences where the lines between storyteller, subject, and audience blur.

Her work has been experienced at the Hammer Museum, New York Transit Museum, Queens Museum, Elsewhere Museum, Open Source Gallery, and festivals including Open Engagement and Conflux. She is a professor at SUNY Old Westbury and co-founder of its Media Innovation Center. samarasmith.com

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 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.

chipleysmithactionshot

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.