Jeremy McKane
OCEAN TECHNOLOGY PIONEER, CONSERVATIONIST
Jeremy McKane is an Artist with a background in technology. At 18, he found himself working in a startup that would one day become (for a time) the world’s largest web hosting provider. Today the company is known as NTT VERIO. In that time the internet promised potential uses that we take for granted today. It was this early experience that provided an alternate perspective. As an artist, McKane’s work has been shown around the world that often includes a mixture of technology and thought provoking imagery about our oceans. McKane uses Art to engage the public to do something about the threats facing the Ocean. He is also the founder of OCEAN™ that aims to protect Our Oceans by reducing enforcement expense and defining value with the biodiversity that exists within.
OCEAN™Ocean is a blockchain platform with a mission to protect 30% of the worlds oceans by 2030. This is achieved by reducing the cost of enforcement and defining financial value of the Ocean’s resources. Thus providing an basis for the theory that the life in the oceans are worth more alive than dead. OCEAN™ is partnering up with technology firms to increase the amount of understanding we have in terms of the amount of fish, temperatures, and other data sets. If we can measure something, we can improve it. The OCEAN™ Platform enables other developers to take their ocean data and collaborate with others on a global network.
In addition to this, McKane has autonomous ocean vehicles that analyze the health of Marine Protected Areas. By collecting millions of data points the hope is that we can actively predict dangers before they become full on catastrophic. In addition, the dual system called the MAKO serves as an autonomous enforcement system that will patrol areas looking for vessels that do not belong in the water. In extreme cases, these system will disable fishing vessels at sea that attempt to flee from enforcement. All of this can be done for the fraction of manned based systems.
An independent study was done by the Blockchain Research Institute:
https://www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org/project/blockchain-for-saving-our-seas/
ULTRAMARINE OCEAN ACTION SUMMIT
In 2018 Jeremy McKane and Susi Mai came up with an idea to encourage the global community to focus on Ocean Action. This came from a frustration of talk without action. Jeremy and Susi both created ULTRAMARINE on Sir Richard Branson’s home, Necker Island BVI.
The most recent event in January 2020 brought some of the best luminaries in the ocean space to really focus on real actionable results. The biggest thing that came out of this was that the First Lady Debbie Remengesau of Palau was able to talk about why she came up with the idea to create the Palau Pledge which was the first step in protecting 80% of their territorial waters. The BVI was moved by this and is now looking to possibly implement this into their visa entry process.
In February 2019 Jeremy and Susi brought 70 people from 10 different countries with 5 different disciplines. The result was astounding and a group of Ocean Actionists are now focused on a mission to protect 30% of the global ocean but 2030. This will be done by a multidisciplinary approach that is inclusive to anyone on the planet that has the ability to make the strongest amplification.
ART CV
“LUCID”
The latest installation called LUCiD is travelling over the next three years with the German Ministry as part of a commitment to the G7 Summit. The public can come see this video installation for free but will only see plastic unless someone picks up our neurofeedback headset and practices mindfulness. When a viewer is in the right mental state they are rewarded with the things in the ocean we should fight for. Showing them they have a chance to just change the way we think if we want a different result.
McKane’s work is a collaboration with the Thyssen-Bornemiza Art Contemporary (TBA21).
Along with this relationship, McKane and TBA21 director Markus Reymann teamed up to produce Ridge to Reef, a docu-series airing on Virgin America that shares the stories of the pacific and the people who protect the oceans. (R2r.film)
THE DALLAS PEGASUS
McKane while working with the late June Mattingly found himself on a mission to find the Original 1934 Mobil Pegasus that was atop of the Magnolia Building in Downtown Dallas. It had been removed in 1999 and almost no one knew its true whereabouts. In 2012 it was found by Kay Kallos of the Office of Cultural Affairs and Jeremy McKane. The two went on to attempt to bring it back to life. McKane’s mentor, the late Jeff West had the vision to erect it in front of the Dallas Omni Hotel. West passed away just a month later unable to see the project to its completion. McKane worked for a few years on this project with Dallas Developer Jack Matthews to see the project completed in the way West would have wanted it. Today the found 1934 Original Dallas Pegasus is lit and turning as it once was in 1934. Except now, you can look at her up close. That’s right, we call her Ms. Peggy. She’s the icon of the Dallas skyline and she is here to stay.
PRESS
Dallas Innovates, “Artist/Director/Technologist Jeremy McKane Aims to Protect Our Oceans With Blockchain”, March 30, 2018
Dallas Morning News, “Rebuilt and Restored,” May 21, 2015
Medium, “Ocean plastic waste getting you down? Bust through the Negativity Bias: Become a Problem Lover,” October 30, 2017
EarthX, “EARTHxFilm presented by Earth Day Texas Announces Full Schedule for Festival Debut,” March 29, 2017
EXHIBITIONS
Dallas, Texas USA
Bogota, Colombia
Santiago, Chile
New York, New York USA
Paris, France
Miami, Florida USA
Davos, Switzerland
Torino, Italy
Brussels, Belgium
Washington DC
Ottowa Canada
PARTNERS AND FRIENDS
G7 Presidential Summit
German Ministry
5gyres.org
take3.org
Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiitba21.org
Plastic Pollution Coalition
LUCiD Being Used in Ottawa Canada During the G7
(C) Ocean Plastics Lab
