For the ancient Greeks, the sea was a realm of mystery and uncertainty. In The Odyssey the sea appears as a series of traps laid by the gods and even more occult creatures who toy with the fate of the few bold enough to venture into it. Today the ocean is far more charted and closely monitored, yet the same old mystery still stares back at us from the future. No matter how many models and forecasts science might offer, no one knows for sure what consequences ocean-warming, which is already hitting record highs each year, will eventually unleash.

In 2004, an ambitious international research project was launched to watch over the state of the world’s seas and oceans: a fleet of robots known as Argo. Like Jason’s ship, today’s Argos are also blessed by the gift of prophecy. Their readings help us anticipate the changes and threats that may lie ahead. Oceanographer Joan Llort, who has spent years working with Argo data in the Mediterranean, sees many parallels between the tales told by science and those produced by art. Both mythology and science are ways of confronting uncertainty.

The artistic and musical side is led by the duo Tarta Relena, who explore Mediterranean sonorities through voice. To compose this piece they have set themselves the task of becoming interpreters for the various Argo robots now adrift in the Tyrrhenian Sea, from where, according to The Odyssey, the Sirens once sang. Sirenes i robots is an installation that immerses us in the undulating song of an oracle-like voice, encircling a luminous, watery map that echoes the changes happening in the Mediterranean.

Transposed into vocal and musical form, the sea-temperature data weave an imaginary fabric that grows denser and more extreme the farther it moves from the present and ventures into the prediction of possible futures. May fair winds be with us.