“A Sea Change: Political, Natural, and Cultural Ecologies of the Mediterranean” serves as both a theoretical reader and a comprehensive catalogue for the “A Sea Change” project (2022-2024). This publication delves into the complex interconnections of political, natural, and cultural ecologies in the Mediterranean region.
Using media such as photography, video, and sound, Toni Meštrović continuously finds inspiration in the environment of the region from which he comes. The region of Dalmatia and the Croatian Adriatic Sea. A space where the sea and stone dominate, as well as the lack of drinking water.
The Blue and Us exhibition unfolds during UN Ocean Decade Week 2024, from 8 to 12 April at ICM-CSIC, Barcelona, spotlighting the interplay of art and science. Featuring contributions by Quo Artis in collaboration with artists Robertina Šebjanič and Katja Loher, the display emphasises the A Sea Change project’s forward-thinking stance on the Blue Economy and how interdisciplinary arts are pivotal in comprehending and addressing marine issues.
Quo Artis presented A Sea on Edge. This exhibition featured works that highlighted the collaborative research efforts spanning the two-year duration of this international project. Attendees were welcomed on March 7th from 12:00 at the Sant Manuel Pavilion of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site in Barcelona to be part of the opening reception of this final show.
The opening of our round table event was held on March 7th, from 12:00 to 13:00, as part of the final exhibition of the A Sea Change project. This discussion featured artist Robertina Šebjanič, Kontejner’s curator Davorka Begović, oceanographer Joan Llort, and Quo Artis project coordinator Helena Pérez Guerra.
To mark the culmination of the project A Sea Change, Quo Artis presents the exhibition Beyond a Sea Change. Rethinking the Mediterranean a Virtual Reality (VR) exhibition which is available online until the 3rd of March 2025.
Between 11-14 of January, 2024, partners of the Sea Change program from Kontejner and NeMe visited Thessaloniki and the MOMus.
They had the chance to follow the presentation of the 1st part of the Sea Change program’s workshop “Post – Platform: tracing the unseen, drawing the upcoming”, to meet with the participants, to have extended discussions on each presentation, that took place at the MOMus-ECA venue’s loft and offices.
“’Post Platform’: detecting the unseen, tracing the impending” is an arts and architecture workshop organized by visual artist and associate professor at the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Nadia Kalara.
From 13 October to 5 November 2023, Carmen Salas and Régine Debatty had a research residency at NeMe as part of the Sea Blindness project.
Organised under the Sea Blindness project, the afternoon was devoted to two screenings followed with a discussion between the curator Régine Debatty and Cyprus-based Palestinian artist Jafra Abu Zoulouf.
In a world that is becoming more and more polarised. In an era where we are confronting critical interconnected challenges: system collapse, large-scale human migration due to geopolitical and border conflicts, resource scarcity (food, water, use of land, etc), increased frequency of disease outbreaks and global security issues, it’s more important than ever to show that a different world is possible. Can the art world provoke and drive social transformation, a shift in values, making us rethink our relationship to material culture? Can it reveal new definitions of what progress means?
To accompany the Sea Blindness exhibition, NeMe has organised a seminar that brought together artists, experts and researchers to discuss topics related to the Mediterranean, including its condition as a climate change “hot spot” and the state of its marine and coastal ecosystems, as well as its geopolitics and the border, rescue and surveillance practices implemented by the European Union at sea.
90% of the goods we consume in the West are manufactured in far-off lands and brought to us by ship. The cargo shipping industry is a key actor in globalisation. Without it, it would be impossible to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of our societies. Yet the functioning and regulations of this armada of increasingly gigantic vessels and containers remain largely obscure to many, and its hidden costs affect us all. Due to their size, freight ships no longer fit in traditional city harbours; they have moved out of public scrutiny, behind barriers and checkpoints.
The main focus guiding this long term investigative and interdisciplinary project, lasting from February to September 2023, has been on the impacts of tourism’s related development affecting local citizens. This includes examining practices being developed in coastal areas that were impacted severely by polluted and warming Mediterranean waters as well as the documentation of collaborations that contribute to a more sustainable, diverse and inclusive vision of the sea and coastal towns.
NeMe is pleased to present the exhibition and accompanying programme of events Sea Blindness: What Lies Beneath the Waves. Running between 22nd September – 22nd October 2023, this project comprises of an international group exhibition, a seminar, two screening events, and a curators’ talk.
Between 15-25 August 2023, young artists from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, Iliada Charalambous, Nurtane Karagil, and Aycan Garip had a residency at NeMe, to edit their experimental video specifically created for the Living with others project, The One Sea We See.
The Mass Souvenirs workshop was held at the premises of MOMus – Experimental Center for the Arts – APOTHIKI B1, Port of Thessaloniki and was successfully completed, re-approaching the idea of the souvenir and tourisn in the coastal areas of Thessaloniki, focusing on both ecology, sustainability of the industrial product, as well as its social interpretation.
Documenting a photography workshop that changed our point of view in the sea. For five days a team of 21 photographers worked around the Thermaikos Golf in Thessaloniki, reapproaching the view of the sea, focusing their views beyond the aesthetic side of photography.
As part of the international project A Sea Change, KONTEJNER organized a one month long workshop in Split on field recording of the marine environment and the undersea led by multimedia artist Toni Meštrović and curator and musicologist Davorka Begović.
Theca is an installation and bio art research process initiated in 2022. In May, 2023 Peluso continued to develop Theca during the residency organized by KONTEJNER in collaboration with the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split, within the A Sea Change European project.
Mutual Aid Orchestra is a research project based on the bio-acoustic interaction between humans and animals initiated in 2023. In May, 2023 artist Marko Marković and researcher and scientist Josipa Vujević started developing the Mutual Aid Orchestra project during the residency organized by KONTEJNER in collaboration with the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split, within the A Sea Change European project.
Heard by the Deep is a contemporary artistic program happening in Split, Croatia in the framework of the ASEA project. It consists of artist residencies, live performances, an exhibition, a workshop, and lectures. The common thematic framework is the sea, its (human and non-human) marine communities and the related environmental urgencies – as devastating as they are imperceptible to our human senses.
Dr Marc Garrett, writer, artist, curator, and co-founder of Furtherfield, UK has had a research residency under the Living with others at NeMe between 13th April until 1st May 2023. The residency included meeting and interviewing various peoples who are affected by developments in coastal communities as well as artists and academics in the Limassol district. His visits included Liopetri, Famagusta which is central to the investigations of the project.
Ruth Catlow had a short residency at NeMe from the 13th-16th April 2023. The residency involved discussions with NeMe regarding the collaborative structure of the Living with Others project. During her residency, she delivered a lecture at the Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta. Whilst in Famagusta Ruth met with artist Nurtane Karagil and discussed her approach and collaboration with Iliada Charalambous for Living with Others.
An invitation to expand and re-sacralise our relationship with nature and the environment our relationship with nature and the environment
The work of the environmental sculptor Joaquín Jara restores our gaze towards our environment with attentive, critical and ephemeral interventions that generate emotional connections with the different communities that inhabit it.
What can we learn from the association of art and science with regard to a sustainable transformation of the economy on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea? What diagnoses and strategies can we draw up from this hybrid space that will allow us to establish a more balanced and less anthropocentric relationship with the sea that fills our coasts?
From fish farming and fishing, shipping, cruise tourism and submarine cabling to wind farming, mining, offshore drilling, nuclear testing and industrial waste dumping, these are just some of the human activities at sea, and human interference threatening the health of our ocean; a place we often mistakenly think of as quiet and still know very little about, while ignoring the impact of our activity to its ecologies.
In the context of Money, Ruins, and the Sea, and moderated by Irini Mirena Papadimitriou, we have joined by a panel of experts responding to topics explored in the exhibition such as sea exploitation, extractivism, and human impact on our oceans and marine ecologies.
Throughout the ages, seas and oceans have been, and continue to be providing immense resources to many people and countries worldwide. A source of food, jobs, energy, minerals, goods and services, a host for our vast internet data travelling through undersea cables, as well as a site for trading routes, cross-cultural exchange and migration, the sea and ocean have always been central to many industries and world economies.
The seminar was a parallel event of the Flood Tide of Resistance project, and promoted Cyprus based initiatives that focus on the preservation of Cypriot natural ecosystems, local sustainability issues as well as the revitalisation of local environments and economies.
Noel Douglas, an artist, designer, and activist whose work across a range of media and different spaces has been aligned with movements against Capitalism and for Social justice for over two decades led a workshop at the NeMe Arts Centre under the Flood tide of resistance activities.
Curator, artist, and filmmaker Oliver Ressler introduced the exhibition Flood Tide of Resistance that brought together artists who produce their works in dialogue with the climate justice movements in which they consider themselves participants. He discussed the wide range of strategies and approaches that can be observed, such as taking over responsibility for the visual appearance of movements, the creation of tactical tools, designing direct action or the creation of alliances with different groups or organisations.
The worldwide scope and visibility of the environmental movements reflect the terrifying global scale of the threat and also the unprecedented social breadth and depth of collective determination to counteract it. Millions of people determined to prevent total planetary climate collapse – to preserve the Earth as habitat for future generations – are joining the climate justice movements and collectively taking action.
