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.
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.
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.
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.
