James Batchelor mixes together science and art on a research vessel 4,000km from mainland Australia.

James Batchelor is a dancer and choreographer taking the art form to new corners of the earth. His latest creative venture has taken him as far as sub-Antarctic Heard Island, 4,000 kilometres out to sea on the Australian research ship RV Investigator. “I think it’s really quite a beautiful thing that artists can be a part of this voyage because, of course, we have a completely different way of dealing with different conventions, and the dialogue between art and science is very rich,” Batchelor said in an interview with the ABC. “It’s been quite challenging because I have to find a way to practise in this space which is quite confined. It’s quite different, and I think also for the crew and the scientists are not used to having a dancer on board.”

Joining Batchelor on the ship is South Australian visual artist and sculptor Annalise Rees, who is producing work as part of her PhD. Professor Mike Coffin, the voyage’s chief scientist, recruited the two artists for the voyage that is researching underwater volcanoes for the Institute of Marine and...