Walking Through Goa’s Seaweed Forests at ‘Step Into The Sea’, a New Installation at Museum of Goa

There's a particular irony to experiencing an underwater ecosystem inside a landlocked gallery space. Yet that's precisely what Step into the Sea attempts at Museum of Goa, translating a decade of research into Goa's seaweed forests into projection mapping, spatial sound and what the creators call 'immersive storytelling'. It's billed as India's first visual documentation of these ecosystems. The fact that this claim can be made in 2026 says something about how invisible certain marine environments remain, even as we accelerate plans to harvest them.

India is home to over 800 known species of seaweed. In Goa alone, Sargassum forests bloom seasonally between November and March, providing breeding grounds for fish species that sustain local fisheries. Yet unlike coral reefs, these forests receive no legal protection. They're viewed primarily as extractable resources rather than ecosystems worth conserving, a tension that runs quietly through this installation.

The Ocean as Collaborator, Not Subject

The installation is the work of The Good Ocean, a marine conservation initiative, and Jolchhobi Collective, led by filmmaker and underwater cinematographer Nefertiti Titli. For Titli, who has spent over a decade documenting underwater environments with her partner Arnav, the approach goes beyond conventional nature documentary work. 

She speaks of the ocean as a teacher rather than a subject. "The seaweed forest taught me to go along with the current of time," she reflects, speaking to us. "That everything moves in cycles. And just like the tide, you have to fall to rise. The ocean teaches you to take risks and communicate in nonverbal ways."

This philosophy shaped the installation's form. Rather than screens or traditional projection surfaces, Titli insisted on "an organic flowing material" that visitors could walk through. "I was certain that we had to use an organic flowing material to project the imagery onto and that one must be able to walk or swim through the forest so that you could be held by it in moments," she explains, "so that the audience can be in communication with the ecosystem the way we are when we're underwater."

The execution involves sound designer Pruthu Parab and creative technologist Priyanka Yadav, whose immersive technology aims to recreate sensations that are, by definition, impossible to perfectly translate to land. It's an ambitious conceptual gambit: can a museum space generate the kind of attention and care that actual immersion in these forests might?

Ecosystems Without Legal Protection

Gabriella D'Cruz, founder of The Good Ocean, has observed Goa's seaweed forests for nearly a decade. Her research paints a picture of ecosystems under competing pressures. "Seaweed forests unlike coral reefs receive no legal protection in India," she notes. "They are seen as a marine resource to be extracted not conserved. As a result of this they aren't given much attention beyond their industrial use."

Yet their ecological role is significant. "I have seen how these forests act as breeding and feeding grounds for a host of fish species," D'Cruz states. "This plays an important role in supporting the local fisheries sector. In addition, seaweed forests absorb carbon and excess nutrients from the water, preventing harmful algal blooms."

The evolutionary stakes add weight. "Seaweed forests are a hugely important coastal ecosystem that has evolved over 9 million years ago," D'Cruz points out. "Older than trees, reefs, dinosaurs and sharks, these ecosystems need more conservation efforts to be directed their way."

That advocacy comes at a pivotal moment. According to a 2024 NITI Aayog report, India produced less than 0.02% of the world's seaweed, relying primarily on wild harvesting. With government and industry now actively supporting the sector's growth, D'Cruz emphasises the urgency of documentation: there needs to be "more active documentation of wild seaweed forests to understand their growth and the factors affecting them" before expansion accelerates.

Beyond Immersion, Towards Care

The installation's stated ambition goes beyond awareness. "I would really like for it to become common knowledge that these ecosystems exist," Titli says. "But that's just the start! Once that awareness is planted, curiosity for these wild spaces can begin to grow."

D'Cruz frames it more pointedly, "I think it's important to recognise the ecosystem value of seaweed forests and not just look at them through an extractive lens." She adds, "I do believe that creating a love for and curiosity around an ecosystem is the first step in advocating for its protection and sustainable use. We protect what we love!"

It's a compelling argument, though one that raises questions about the timeline. If love and curiosity are prerequisites for protection, and documentation is only happening now, what gets lost in the interval between discovery and care? The installation doesn't answer this, but it makes the question visible.

To Notice Before It Is Too Late

Running till January 30, the installation runs free to the public at Museum of Goa, with storytelling sessions titled The Story of Seaweed scheduled throughout the week.

"Our intention is not just to show the ocean to our audience, but to translate what it feels like to be in communication with it," Titli states. Whether cinema, sound and spatial design can truly replicate what Titli describes as "the ocean as an intelligent living presence" remains an open question. But perhaps that's the point—to create enough dissonance between experience and representation that visitors are compelled to seek the real thing.

As Titli suggests, "The forest will have answers for anyone who chooses to ask it a question." The installation's success may ultimately be measured not by how many people walk through it, but by how many leave wondering what they've been missing beneath the waterline all along.