Can we collectively represent what is still unthinkable, namely "how does the sea raise its voice"? A Seat for the Sea is an artistic research project challenging current systems of ecological destruction.

The event is FREE admission and will be in ENGLISH, please register through EVENTBRITE. Go to the website for more info.

If you are unable to attend in person, the panel will be live-streamed through Framer Framed's YouTube channel, watch here.

The ocean is given an ever-greater role in a 'planetary zoning plan'. Under concepts such as Blue Economy, industrial and investment projects are being conceived which are (or will be) carried out in the sea. These projects are 'rolled out' based on the idea that man must cultivate everything that is pristine and subdue and colonise nature, in this case, the sea and the deep sea. Yet, does the sea have its word to say?

A spectacular new trend is deep-sea mining, in which the Netherlands and Belgium play a prominent role. This new industry is to take place deep in the ocean, 4 to 5 kilometres below sea level and de facto escapes our view. Its excavators are shrouded in industrial secrecy, its impact justified by inadequate scientific research. It continues unabated, but there is hardly any debate.

A Seat for the Sea aims to strengthen the affective and cognitive involvement of society at large, by exploring new paths and looking for alternative narratives, by bringing imagination into this technological society and to appeal to the intrinsic value of the ocean and nature.

How can we strengthen the voice of the sea? And, dilemma, can we talk in the name of the sea?

This discussion will take place at Framer Framed in the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes by Radha D'Souza and Jonas Staal.

Participants:

Marialena Marouda (GR/DE/BE) works in the intersections between performance, sound art and oral poetry. In 2018 she initiated The Oceanographies Institute (TOI).

Theun Karelse (NL) His interests and experimental practice explore edges between art, environment, technology and archaeology. The Embassy of the North Sea invited him to be part of the fieldwork team for the future of the Delta.

Esther Kokmeijer (NL) is an artist, explorer, designer and photographer. In her work as an artist, she mainly focuses on the ‘Global Commons’. She is the founder of ANTARKTIKOS, a magazine that is solely dedicated to Antarctica.

Stijn Demeulenaere (BE) is a sound artist, searching musician, and field recordist. He holds degrees in sociology, cultural studies and studied radio at the RITCS, Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound.

Initiators:

Greet Brauwers (BE) graduated as an audiovisual author at KASK. She’s a filmmaker, journalist, researcher and artist and coordinates socio-artistic projects in which participation, meeting and exchange of knowledge are central.

Raf Custers (BE) is a writer, documentary maker, historian (KU. Leuven / Latin America / semiotics), singer-performer and freelance journalist.

Conversator:

Anna Luyten (BE) studied philosophy, as well as theatre and literary studies. She is an artistic researcher at the School of Arts, KASK Ghent into the function of attention and participation in performance art, writing and thinking practice and lecturer in cultural criticism at the drama academy in Maastricht.