Ouroboros Project

Kate Doyle founded the Ouroboros Project in 2016, following a series of conversations with earth scientists at NASA. Her initial goal was to make captivating multidisciplinary art out of NASA satellite data, raising awareness of climate change at a time when it received little coverage in the cultural conversation and still faced many climate deniers.

What began as a single video installation, meant to show people how beautiful and complex earth’s systems are, grew into a broader project spanning multiple activities. Together they blend art and science to raise awareness of the natural world and humanity’s place within it, while engaging diverse communities.

Ouroboros premiered as a multi-chamber artwork in 2018 at the Curfman Gallery at Colorado State University, drawing visitors ranging in age from 4 to 93. Each chamber is filled with video and sound built from live satellite data, first animated by NASA scientist-animators, then transformed by the Ouroboros team into artistic representations.

Ouroboros has also taken the form of a single-space video installation at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, paired with an exhibition of climate science images and paintings made collaboratively with Goddard’s climate scientists.

The project also includes ongoing workshops, such as paint pours inspired by climate science, tailored to audiences ranging from eminent scientists to small children. Most recently, Kate facilitated a communal paint pour in which 40 climate and agricultural experts poured liquid paint simultaneously, creating a collective portrait of everyone who took part. See it here

Kate has also presented Ouroboros as a TEDx talk.

In her personal work, Kate has built a three-dimensional labyrinth from found branches, joining two spirals into a single ancient form reimagined for community engagement. At the center, visitors are invited to pause, reflect on humanity’s relationship with nature, and leave a message or mark for the community of participants.