In the context of Money, Ruins, and the Sea, and moderated by Irini Mirena Papadimitriou, we were 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.
Speakers
Ingeborg Reichle, PhD, contemporary art historian and cultural theorist; currently Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam, Germany.
Our oceans are in an ecological crisis due to their contamination with millions of tons of toxic microplastic particles. In just a few years, the volume of microplastic particles will exceed that of plankton in our oceans and turn them into a huge Plastisphere. In her contribution, Ingeborg Reichle pointed to a number of artistic responses related to environmental activities, DIY biotechnology, and science, and draw attention to the various attitudes, artists take towards the irreversible destruction of our marine ecosystems due to plastic pollution – like the current threat posed by the loss of marine animal biodiversity.
Xandra van der Eijk, artist and researcher; course leader, MA Ecology Futures, Master Institute of Visual Cultures, St. Joost School of Art & Design, NL.
Taking as starting points her works Seasynthesis and Ghost Reef, Xandra van der Eijk explored the sea’s daily ways of being that go unnoticed by the majority of us due to its vastness and inaccessibility, while creating a case for what contribution artistic exploration of the ocean space can bring to discuss the evolution of the sea and its beings and to fuel policy making.
Ismail Ertürk, Senior Lecturer, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.
Ismail Ertürk’s presentation focussed on “values of money and value of oceans for socially and environmentally responsible finance.” In our financialised capitalism finance has gained disproportionate power in economy and society. Therefore finance is expected externally and self-organises internally to mobilise its power to impact positively on environmental issues including the oceans and seas that businesses use as free economic resource. Ismail Ertürk will discuss how finance’s values need to change for real impact.
