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. During the seminar, among other things, discussed the way in which art, technology, human rights activism and research can be used to expose and document border violence and to foster mobility justice. It also explored how creative collaborations between artists, anthropologists, biologists, activists, sailors and farmers can facilitate new narratives and frameworks of exchange around land and place, time and ritual, and the ecology of living systems, including seeds, sea-life and terrestrial species, and diverse cultural groups.
Moderated by the curators Régine Debatty and Carmen Salas, the seminar includes the participation of Border Forensics designer and researcher Giovanna Reder, artist Alfonso Borragán, and the environmental scientist and researcher Prof. Dr. Manfred Lange.
Giovanna Reder
(In)visibilities of surveillance
At the borders and beyond versatile surveillance technologies are used to exert control and to maintain the status quo. The central Mediterranean is a testing ground of these technologies that are now not only occupying the sea but also shifting to the sky. The EU is increasing their aerial presence through a growing number of manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft.
The presentation will show the ongoing investigation into surveillance at the EU’s external border, explaining counter forensic methods and open source based research that try to make the systematic nature of these violences visible. It will also reflect on (in)visibilities created through surveillance and aerial control.
Manfred A. Lange
Environmental and Climate Changes in the Mediterranean
The land regions and the seas in the Mediterranean Basin are significantly at risk as a result of anthropogenic environmental changes. Due to the growing need for resources, demographic development is an important socio-economic driver of such changes. Environmental and climate changes affect water- and food security, and the health and well-being of ecosystems and human populations.
The Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change (MedECC; www.medecc.org) have published a first comprehensive assessment of climate and environmental changes and their risks for the Mediterranean.
Current changes in atmospheric temperatures in the Mediterranean lie significantly above global mean values. Projections of future changes point towards even more drastic impacts on water- and food security. In the energy sector, rising temperatures require increasing electricity needs for space cooling and seawater desalination.
The Mediterranean has the highest proportion of threatened marine habitats in Europe. A large number of unique, endemic species face increasing vulnerability to climate and environmental changes. Coastal zones are particularly at risk due to sea level rises and an increasing urbanisation in near-coastal regions.
We need to concentrate on strategies to adapt to the unavoidable climate changes in the Mediterranean, particularly in the energy sector. Suitable technologies are available or under development and need the political will to implement them.
Charalampos Theopemptou
Charalampos Theopemptou studied electronics at City University, London and in 1986 was appointed Lecturer at the Higher Institute of Technology.
In July 2006 he was appointed as the first Commissioner for the Environment a position he served until until February 2013. He is currently a member of the Cyprus Parliament, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment and the president of the Environmentalists Movement.
Alfonso Borragán
Maybe Memory is a process of Forgetfulness
Seed Journey, a seafaring voyage with a rotating crew of artists, anthropologists, biologists, bakers, activists, sailors and farmers, left the port of Oslo, Norway in 2017 with onboard ancient wheat and rye seeds. The expedition retraced the journey that the seeds had made thousands of years ago when they left their place of origin in the Mediterranean. On its way, at each stop, the crew exchanged ancient grain seeds with local farmers to grow them and keep them germinating. The rescue boat was a vessel full of ancient genetic memory, a plural harvest aiming to germinate the lost seeds.
How can such a journey be memorised? How do we remember? What do we remember? Are we made to remember?
During the journey, we carried a group of C. elegans worms. These worms were the paradox and the memory of our journey. This simple organism has 302 neurons and is the base of memory experimentation by neuroscientists as it is for genetic modification in phylogeny. We coexisted, took care and named the worms during the journey; knowing they were the witness and subjective memory of our life on board. Once the sailing finished the worms were carried to the neuroscientists’ laboratory to read their neuronal stimulus and reconstruct their memory. This memory is today an image. The worms were the honest memory of our alliance with the seeds: the history and memory of relationships between us and the non-humans.
Maybe Memory is a Process of Forgetfulness is a lecture that explores the uninterrupted process of production, erosion and re-production of memory.
