The Current II: Deep Sea Minding
Expedition #1 led by SUPERFLEX
August 20 –
September 4, 2018
Hunga Tonga
‘The Current’ Cycle II: SUPERFLEX, Convening #1 ‘Deep Sea Minding’ Copenhagen, 2018.
Photo: James White
Photo: James White
Past
TBA21–Academy
Research
DEEP SEA MINDING
Danish artist group SUPERFLEX begins a three-year cycle as Expedition Leaders of The Current with an expedition through the islands of Tonga.
The deep sea is closer than ever. Global warming is causing an unprecedented rise in the sea level, which will drastically reshape our planet. Dry ecosystems, including human landscapes, will soon be submerged. Great migrations will happen, and all species will be forced to survive extreme changes in their habitats. As the water rises, molluscs, fish and algae will occupy our cities, homes and parking lots. Every object created by humans will potentially end up underwater: cars, televisions, fish bowls. When the depths of the sea finally reach the places that we have carefully designed and built, their original function and aesthetics will be lost. It is time to consider if water will then become a destructive force or an element of transformation. Apart from continuing to fight the causes of climate change, we should also prepare for the inevitable arrival of the ocean.
Deep Sea Minding is a project by SUPERFLEX that merges artistic and scientific research in an attempt to reach an alternative understanding of the marine species, which could ultimately affect the way we imagine and design our environments and objects. While generating relevant data and increasing awareness of rising sea levels, Deep Sea Minding proposes the creation of structures that could serve the needs and desires of both humans and marine creatures. In August, SUPERFLEX initiates the first of three expeditions to the South Pacific to test marine life responses to the nature of these designed structures. Documentation of the progress of this research will be accessible online and interaction with the project possible through the land-based annual Convenings.
Deep Sea Minding is a three-year transdisciplinary research project conceived by the Danish artist group SUPERFLEX and commissioned by TBA21–Academy. SUPERFLEX will be Expedition Leaders of the second cycle—spanning 2018-20—of TBA21–Academy’s three-year fellowship programme The Current. The first expedition—Deep Sea Minding—aboard the M/Y Dardanella research vessel, brings a series of exploratory experiments to the uninhabited island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, in the South Pacific. The island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai emerged recently in the South Pacific, challenging the prevailing tendency of a world which is slowly sinking. The perfect location to explore the thin and ever-changing frontier between land and sea. A frontier which will be soon diluted by a vertical migration: bringing fish to occupy our homes and humans to mind the deep sea.
The deep sea is closer than ever. Global warming is causing an unprecedented rise in the sea level, which will drastically reshape our planet. Dry ecosystems, including human landscapes, will soon be submerged. Great migrations will happen, and all species will be forced to survive extreme changes in their habitats. As the water rises, molluscs, fish and algae will occupy our cities, homes and parking lots. Every object created by humans will potentially end up underwater: cars, televisions, fish bowls. When the depths of the sea finally reach the places that we have carefully designed and built, their original function and aesthetics will be lost. It is time to consider if water will then become a destructive force or an element of transformation. Apart from continuing to fight the causes of climate change, we should also prepare for the inevitable arrival of the ocean.
Deep Sea Minding is a project by SUPERFLEX that merges artistic and scientific research in an attempt to reach an alternative understanding of the marine species, which could ultimately affect the way we imagine and design our environments and objects. While generating relevant data and increasing awareness of rising sea levels, Deep Sea Minding proposes the creation of structures that could serve the needs and desires of both humans and marine creatures. In August, SUPERFLEX initiates the first of three expeditions to the South Pacific to test marine life responses to the nature of these designed structures. Documentation of the progress of this research will be accessible online and interaction with the project possible through the land-based annual Convenings.
Deep Sea Minding is a three-year transdisciplinary research project conceived by the Danish artist group SUPERFLEX and commissioned by TBA21–Academy. SUPERFLEX will be Expedition Leaders of the second cycle—spanning 2018-20—of TBA21–Academy’s three-year fellowship programme The Current. The first expedition—Deep Sea Minding—aboard the M/Y Dardanella research vessel, brings a series of exploratory experiments to the uninhabited island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, in the South Pacific. The island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai emerged recently in the South Pacific, challenging the prevailing tendency of a world which is slowly sinking. The perfect location to explore the thin and ever-changing frontier between land and sea. A frontier which will be soon diluted by a vertical migration: bringing fish to occupy our homes and humans to mind the deep sea.
Deep Sea Minding
Image by: SUPERFLEX
Image by: SUPERFLEX
Sketch from SUPERFLEX Convening#1 | Cophenhagen, April 2018
Image by: SUPERFLEX
Image by: SUPERFLEX