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Armin Linke

Prospecting Ocean, 2018

Still: Courtesy of the artist

Installation view: Armin Linke. Prospecting Ocean, CNR-ISMAR, Venice, Italy, 2018Photo: Giulia Bruno, 2018 | Courtesy the artist

TBA21–Academy

Commissions & Productions

Commissions

Armin Linke

Prospecting Ocean, 2018

Installation consisting of main film (two-channel video installation, color, sound) and lectures (two-channel video installation, color, sound)
56 min (film)
240 min (lectures)
Overall dimensions variable
Commissioned and produced by TBA21–Academy

TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection

Working through photography and filmmaking, Armin Linke looks at the institutional infrastructures, decision processes, and sites of power hierarchies, in many cases through an investigation of the archive and of the conditions and possibilities of the media itself.

Prospecting Ocean attempts to create a new visualization to frame the complex kaleidoscopic images that are connected with the Anthropocene into a linear narrative essay. The work aims at understanding and possibly creating new solutions to design the future. Exemplary issues are the acidification of the ocean, the implication of the usage of fertilizers, the practice of ice drilling to get information on the history of climate, ocean current measurement and modeling, negotiations on new legislations that relate to the ocean boundaries and regulations, and eventually economical practices like oil and mineral drilling, fisheries, issues related to vessel transport, and ice melting in the Arctic region.

Armin Linke investigates international regulations and laws related to the seabed and the rising sea levels. By combining film, photography, documentation, and interviews, he has selected various institutions, scientists and local agents, observing the different procedures, negotiations, interconnections that their activities implicate. Focusing on a selection of seminal conferences, Linke uses a combination of filmic material gathered, amongst other, from the 22nd Session of the International Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica, as well as Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise, Johannesburg/Sandton, South Africa. The documentation of the conferences will be combined with footage gathered in the field on various research trips investigating similar themes, which feed back into these conferences.

Camera: Armin Linke, Giulia Bruno
Sound and sound postproduction: Giuseppe Ielasi, Renato Rinaldi
Editing: Giulia Bruno, Giuseppe Ielasi

CURRENTLY ON VIEW:

Group show: Tidal Shifts. Exploring The Oean's Wonders Through Art, Sound & Science

Venue: NEO VogelART LAB, 6 bis Rue Lascaris, 06300 Nice

Date: June 7, 2025 - June 13, 2025

An official off-site event
2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3)

PAST EXHIBITIONS:

Solo show: Prospecting Ocean

Curator: Stephanie Hessler

Venue: Institute of Marine Science (ISMAR), Venice
Date: May 23, 2018 – September 30, 2018
Commissioned by TBA21–Academy and developed
in collaboration with CNR-ISMAR.

Group show: Foto/Industria 2019. Biennial of Photography on Industry and Work. Tecnosfera
Venue: University Library of Bologna

Date: October 24, 2019 – November 24, 2019

Group show: 16th Istanbul Biennial. The Seventh Continent
Venue: Anadolu Club, The Yellow Building Prinkipo Island (Ada-i-Kebir) Princes’ Islands, Istanbul

Date: September 14, 2019 – November 10, 2019

Solo show: Prospecting Ocean
Venue: Columbia University (GSAPP), Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery, Buell Hall, New York
Date: March 26, 2020 – June 27, 2020

Related works in the collection

Armin Linke OCEANS. Dialogues between ocean floor and water column, 2017

Armin Linke Sea level rise at Kulili Plantation Village, 2017

Armin Linke Photoessay related to the “Prospecting Ocean” project, 2016-2017

Armin Linke Prospecting Ocean, 2018

Related program

TBA21 at the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, Nice

Armin Linke Prospecting Ocean

Artists

Armin Linke