Global events like World Expos are increasingly problematized, considering their social, economic, and ecological consequences. Ethnographers have been researching the expansion of such spectacles into an array of sectors. In particular, while they may not have the same spatial, temporal, or financially expansive qualities of World Expos or Olympic Games, so-called second-tier events remain consequential and are of interest for the cultural connections they seek to forge. In this vein, this project explores the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), specifically, the One Ocean Science Congress (OOSC), to examine tendencies towards spectacle while seeking to connect science with cultural forms via the stated aim of promoting ecological conservation. In so doing, the work describes the spatial extent of the event, the preponderance of kitsch aesthetics promoting ambiguous more-than-human solidarities, and an attempt to produce collective effervescence through performance.