EXPLORATIONS IN OCEAN SPACE VI
>>>>>>>>>>> Learning with the Northern Adriatic <<<<<<<<<<<
Starting from the Sea
Historic maritime maps are helpful in reestablishing a contemporary imagination of the sea space as a territorial foreground, rather than the empty background of a landed view. They describe the sea as the primary and essential connecting space to which the coastal ports and cities were orientated, with little concern for the hinterland. Here the Adriatic Sea is crossed by multiple portulan lines visually binding places together on opposite sides– a navigational method based on the 32 directions of a mariner’s compass and centred on specific points with the main lines orientated toward the north pole.
Over time, maps of the sea have been increasingly rationalised, flattened and emptied of cultural information at the same time as the sea space has been increasingly divided and exploited for extractive and capitalist purposes. By changing our explorative perspective from land to sea, we hope to loosen our own inherited territorial grip, give way to shifting ecologies and uncertain futures, and learn about co-existence with and through the Northern Adriatic.
Sparkling turquoise water, the bottlenose dolphin, excessive mucilage (sea snot) events, aqua alta, oil-rigs tankers and pipelines, small-scale fishers, thousands of charter boats, wrecks and ghost nets are all part of the Northern Adriatic’s multi-facetted biography, yet each has different stories to tell. The course aims to find our own reading of the sea– a holistic perspective where sociocultural factors, more-than-human protagonists and intangible heritage influence our understanding alongside state-of-the-art developments in the maritime industries. Such readings will form the basis for developing original narratives that weave through final design proposals at the end of the semester.
This project is realised in collaboration with the artistic research project Komuna Maro, funded by the FWF (Austrian Research Fund), TU Graz.
“Komuna Maro” is the first project to investigate the North Adriatic in a critical, comprehensive, and transdisciplinary way by interweaving various forms of knowledge and combining different methods of sensing, mapping, and speculating about this marine region in the context of arts-based research.” (from project description, funding application)
The world’s seas have become increasingly interconnected with human activities. Based on this assumption, the artistic research project Komuna Maro (Common Sea in Esperanto) investigates the networks of marine communities, technologies, and infrastructures of the North Adriatic. The objectives of the project, which started in October 2023 at the Institute for Contemporary Art (IZK), are to uncover hidden power dynamics, create new “cartographies”, and present alternative narratives for the region. BAS (Ocean Space) is a collaborating partner.
Principle Investigator Ana Jeinić, and Ana Dana Beroš, (TU Graz), will provide into the course input, share their knowledge and first results, and partly accompany us on the field-trip.
More about Komuna Maro here