Symposium:
Return to the Sea
July 4 –
July 6, 2018
Dubrovnik and Lopud
Atif Akin, Tepoto Sud morph Moruroa, 2017. Still: the artist
Past
TBA21–Academy
Programming
The symposium Return to the Sea spans across the opening of Oceans.
Imagining a Tidalectic Worldview in its two locations — the Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik (MOMAD) and the Franciscan Monastery on Lopud—to inaugurate the exhibition by focusing on the important issues facing the oceans today and on the policies that could bring about change as seen through the lens of art. The symposium includes talks and panels by the curators and leaders of TBA21–Academy, as well as artists whose work is included in the exhibition and other key voices from the Adriatic concerned with the impact of human interference on oceanic ecosystems and local communities. With this symposium, TBA21–Academy wants to create new connections that are not otherwise possible in the academic and institutional context. What do marine biologists and architects have in common? Where do philosophers and mining experts meet? How do designers and policymakers talk to one another? What are the new fields and professions that could emerge from this in the future? What new forms of institutions can be imagined from the fluid foundation of the ocean?
…like the movement of the ocean she’s walking on, coming from one continent/continuum, touching another, and then receding (“reading”) from the island(s) into the perhaps creative chaos of the(ir) future… —Kamau Brathwaite
The exhibition Oceans. Imagining a Tidalectic Worldview suggests a different way of engaging with the oceans and the world we inhabit. Unbound by land-based modes of thinking and living, the exhibition and concurrent symposium are reflective of the rhythmic fluidity of water and the incessant swelling and receding of the tides. With this, the third installment of TBA21–Academy’s first exhibition, and its first coastal display Oceans, presents 17 artists whose works cast oceanic perspectives on the cultural, political, and biological dimensions of the oceans, some examining the effects of human-made issues such as climate change and sea-level rise, and others reimagining human and “more-than-human” relationships. Curated by Stefanie Hessler, Oceans is comprised of nine new commissions, many the result of the Academy’s expeditions in the Pacific Ocean, alongside some exceptional pieces from the TBA21 collection.
Imagining a Tidalectic Worldview in its two locations — the Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik (MOMAD) and the Franciscan Monastery on Lopud—to inaugurate the exhibition by focusing on the important issues facing the oceans today and on the policies that could bring about change as seen through the lens of art. The symposium includes talks and panels by the curators and leaders of TBA21–Academy, as well as artists whose work is included in the exhibition and other key voices from the Adriatic concerned with the impact of human interference on oceanic ecosystems and local communities. With this symposium, TBA21–Academy wants to create new connections that are not otherwise possible in the academic and institutional context. What do marine biologists and architects have in common? Where do philosophers and mining experts meet? How do designers and policymakers talk to one another? What are the new fields and professions that could emerge from this in the future? What new forms of institutions can be imagined from the fluid foundation of the ocean?
…like the movement of the ocean she’s walking on, coming from one continent/continuum, touching another, and then receding (“reading”) from the island(s) into the perhaps creative chaos of the(ir) future… —Kamau Brathwaite
The exhibition Oceans. Imagining a Tidalectic Worldview suggests a different way of engaging with the oceans and the world we inhabit. Unbound by land-based modes of thinking and living, the exhibition and concurrent symposium are reflective of the rhythmic fluidity of water and the incessant swelling and receding of the tides. With this, the third installment of TBA21–Academy’s first exhibition, and its first coastal display Oceans, presents 17 artists whose works cast oceanic perspectives on the cultural, political, and biological dimensions of the oceans, some examining the effects of human-made issues such as climate change and sea-level rise, and others reimagining human and “more-than-human” relationships. Curated by Stefanie Hessler, Oceans is comprised of nine new commissions, many the result of the Academy’s expeditions in the Pacific Ocean, alongside some exceptional pieces from the TBA21 collection.