Joe Riley

R/V: Research Vessel

Incorporating visual and participatory ethnographic methods, R/V observes the oceanographic “research vessel” through a focus on quotidian tasks, non-spectacular forms of labor, leisure, and the everyday practices and instruments of doing scientific research at sea.

Today, rapidly intensifying political and institutional pressure on interdisciplinary fields like oceanography and climate science present challenges, not only for scientists, but also for artists and environmental humanities scholars. A planned three-part series, R/V: Research Vessel, critically examines how and where marine scientists, artists, and community leaders respond to such troubling circumstances and form interdisciplinary communities of care through radically expanded research protocols. With support from the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the first portion of R/V was filmed during a 2025 oceanographic research cruise surveying a marine protected area off the California coast. Through its focus on the non-spectacular forms of labor, leisure, and the everyday practices and instruments of doing scientific research at sea, this chapter of R/V brings into relief the normality (even banality) of oceanographic field work as a way to critically engage with science during times of uncertainty and upheaval.

Q&A

Fellowship Cohort: Fall 2024

Why did you choose this project? 
This project finds itself in a moment marked by political and institutional pressures that complicate critical scrutiny of science and technology. Retreats from public investment in the sciences threaten to undermine vital research and collective responses to climate crises. Meanwhile, institutional support for the arts and humanities withers, and critical analysis of scientific research agendas has shifted in favor of face-value trust. I chose to pursue this project as a means to process and address the questions: How should scholars and artists critically engage with science under these conditions? Can creative practice and STS reach beyond the need-to-know basis of much interdisciplinary scholarship? Who, or what, assembles infrastructures and networks of care, not only for scientists, but also for artists and humanists?

How was this fellowship meaningful or impactful to you? 
The Suraj Israni Fellowship support came at a pivotal stage in crafting my dissertation. The opportunity to film aboard R/V Sally Ride has helped keep my research progress on track for completing and defending my Ph.D., and it has opened up a new set of directions for my postdoctoral research plans.

Have you showcased this work in any other ways or places? Do you have any future plans related to this work? 
Since it has grown into an ambitious, longer-term project, the preliminary visual materials for R/V have not yet been shared in other public venues or platforms. The film will be a central part of my next major project, Research Vessel: Navigating the Art, Science, and Watercraft of Interdisciplinary Communities, examining how marine scientists (including Indigenous scientists) form interdisciplinary communities of care and enact solidarity through radically expanded parameters of research and collaboration.

Joe Riley is an artist, historian, Ph.D. candidate in Art History, Theory and Criticism (Art Practice Concentration), and the Program for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research (PIER) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. His writing, grounded in archival research and fieldwork, focuses on the hydro-politics of knowledge and technology in the ocean sciences, the commodification of ocean life forms such as kelp, and the design and engineering of seacraft. Joe’s artwork and collaborations with Audrey Snyder and the collective Futurefarmers have been exhibited at venues including Getty Pacific Standard Time, Clockshop, Socrates Sculpture Park, Artes Mundi 7, and Sharjah Biennale 13. In 2025-26, Joe is a predoctoral fellow with the Getty Institute. He has previously participated in TBA21-Academy’s Ocean Fellowship and the Whitney Independent Study Program. Joe holds a BFA from Cooper Union and has taught at UC San Diego, CalState San Marcos, The Cooper Union School of Art, and Stevens Institute of Technology.