October 2–31, 2020
The Sea – Sounds & Storytelling
A proposal by the Centre culturel suisse, Paris, Institut Kunst – HGK FHNW, Bâle, TBA21–Academy and Istituto Svizzero
Exclusively online on istitutosvizzero.it and ocean-archive.org until October 31, 2020.
The connotations—both ecological and political—of the ocean and, in particular, of the Mediterranean Sea are in constant flux. The Sea – Sounds & Storytelling is an online program proposing to listen to the ocean itself, a living matter that preserves memory, as well as to voices and narratives that have crossed the seas: an approach both artistic and scientific, pursued through art projects by Ursula Biemann, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, Binta Diaw, Maria Iorio & Raphaël Cuomo, Dagmawi Yimer, Tomoko Sauvage, Julie Semoroz, and Lena Maria Thüring, and with scientists and theoreticians whose practices revolve around listening to, analyzing, discussing and highlighting voices of the sea. The program centers around two moments, Sounds and Storytelling, the former echoing the live event that has taken place at La Criée - Théâtre National de Marseille, and the latter presented exclusively as an online program on istitutosvizzero.it and ocean-archive.org.
Sounds
What is inscribed and stored in the sea, this mental and physical space? Are there sounds, languages, voices, and stories that we can extract from it? How can we learn to listen to them? The first moment of the program The Sea – Sounds & Storytelling, dedicated to sound, follows the idea to listen and learn from the Ocean with artists and scientists whose practices are based on listening, analysing, discussing, and enhancing the voice of the sea with films by Ursula Biemann, Lena Maria Thüring, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, audio pieces by Julie Semoroz and Tomoko Sauvage, and the presentation of SONARS—an experiment in long-term artistic and scientific residency.
Storytelling
Once a shimmering blue projection screen for holiday dreams, the Mediterranean Sea is now a symbol of migration movements and the hopes for so many people. On a political level, today it is not only one of the deadliest border regions in the world, but also an accelerant of xenophobic zeal. In view of these shifts, it is of vital importance to seek and include other, polyphonic stories and diverse, also non-European perspectives, and to ask ourselves, with just as much urgency, whether and how these voices are being heard and where the memories related to them are preserved. In the second moment, dedicated to “storytelling,” we search for these voices and listen to the stories that have crossed the sea.
The artists Binta Diaw, Maria Iorio & Raphaël Cuomo, and Dagmawi Yimer present new and prior works that approach the topic from different perspectives. On the one hand, they shed light on the changing violence of exclusionary policies in the Mediterranean over the past 15 years. On the other hand, they also broaden the view on the migration movements between Italy and Switzerland, as well as on the border regimes and the hidden counter-memories that accompany them, or on the polyphony of a young generation of afro-Italians. The selection of artistic works is accompanied by an essay by Simone Frangi, which will be published in late October.
Program
Sounds
Films by:
Lena Maria Thüring, Gardien de la paix (GPX), 2011, 18 min 47 sec
Ursula Biemann, Acoustic Ocean, 2018, 18 min
Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, Te Moana – The Ocean, 2019–20, 30 min, commissioned by TBA21–Academy
Audio pieces:
Tomoko Sauvage, Fischgeist - exclusive preview of the upcoming album
Julie Semoroz with Cédric Gagneur, Baleina - excerpt of We need space, performance
Storytelling
Films by:
Maria Iorio & Raphaël Cuomo, The Interpreter, 2009, 36 min
Maria Iorio & Raphaël Cuomo, Appunti del passaggio, 2014–2016, 43 min
Dagmawi Yimer, ASMAT – Names in memory of all victims of the sea, 2015, 17 min
Dagmawi Yimer, Nothing but the sea, 2011, 49 min
Audio piece:
Binta Diaw, Agropoetics: Chorus of Soul, 2020 Audio, 1 min 18 sec
Programme developed within the framework of Manifesta 13 Marseille – Les Parallèles du Sud. Curated by Claire Hoffmann, Chus Martínez and Gioia Dal Molin, assisted by María Montero Sierra.
A proposal by the Centre culturel suisse, Paris, Institut Kunst – HGK FHNW, Bâle, TBA21–Academy and Istituto Svizzero, in collaboration with the La Criée – Théâtre national de Marseille.
