Doug Aitken (born 1968) is an American multidisciplinary artist. Aitken's body of work ranges from photography, print media, sculpture, and architectural interventions, to narrative films, sound, single and multi-channel video works, installations, and live performance. He currently lives in Venice, California, and New York City. Early life and education Doug Aitken was born in 1968 in Redondo Beach, California. In 1987, he initially studied magazine illustration with Philip Hays at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena before graduating in Fine Arts in 1991. Work He moved to New York in 1994 where he had his first solo show at 303 Gallery. Aitken's body of work ranges from photography, print media, sculpture, and architectural interventions, to narrative films, sound, single and multi-channel video works, installations, and live performance. Aitken's video works have taken place in such culturally loaded sites as Jonestown in Guyana, southwest Africa's diamond mines, and India's Bollywood. Site-specific projects Aitken has created an array of site-specific installations, sometimes synthesizing interactive media with architecture. A recent site-specific work, New Horizon, revolved around a reflective hot air balloon and gondola that transformed into a kinetic light sculpture. The balloon sculpture was featured in a series of happenings that took place in July 2019 across the state of Massachusetts. Another project was Underwater Pavilions (2016), which consisted of three temporary sculptures that were moored to the ocean floor off Catalina Island, CA. Geometric in design, the sculptures created environments that reflected and refracted light, opening a portal that physically connected a viewer to the expanse of the ocean while simultaneously disrupting preconceived visual ideas of the aquatic world. By merging the language of contemporary architecture, land art, and ocean research and conservation, the Underwater Pavilions were a living artwork within a vibrant ecosystem. In contrast to areas of the sculpture that have a rough and rock-like surface, mirrored sections reflected the seascape and, when approached, activated to become a kaleidoscopic observatory. The environments created by the sculptures changed and adjusted with the currents and time of day, focusing the attention of the viewer on the rhythm of the ocean and its life cycles. The artwork created a variety of converging perceptual encounters that played with the fluidity of time and space, resulting in a heightened awareness of the physical world. The sculptures were created in partnership with Parley for the Oceans and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.