Oceanic Thinking

Oceanic Thinking presents new ways of understanding the ocean and the adjacent blue spaces of our planet. Drawing on both the form and the function of the ocean, it asks how we may be able to think together with these liquid, vast, biodiverse and non-binary spaces to speculate on our collective future. 

Artworks reveal cutting-edge perspectives and research on themes including race, the ongoing extractive colonial project, climate crises, decolonisation, languages, industries, sci-fi, diasporas, interspecies relations and kinship.

The exhibition’s title is a play on the psychoanalytic phrase “oceanic feeling”: the sensation of a boundless, everlasting bond with the world as a whole.

Oceanic Thinking is the inaugural exhibition of the multi-year Blue Assembly project, developed by curator Peta Rake in collaboration with The University of Queensland’s Centre for Marine Science—one of Australia’s largest and most diverse marine research groups. The project coincides with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), and will encompass exhibitions, research station residencies, an online journal, screenings and more.

Curator: Peta Rake

Artists: Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Isha Ram Das, Elise Rasmussen, Izabela Pluta, Monira Al Qadiri, Tabita Rezaire, Stephanie Comilang, Alicia Mersy​, Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, Salote Tawale, Benjamin Armstrong, Charles Callins, Andreas Angelidakis and SUPERFLEX

Ultramarine Conversations: As part of “Oceanic Thinking”, this series of talks and panel discussions explores biodiverse environments, human and non-human habitats, and the varied and complex place of the ocean in global cultures.

March 3 / Blue Carbon Method: Off the back of her time at COP26, Professor Catherine Lovelock will join Senior Curator Peta Rake to discuss the recently formalised Blue Carbon Method: the sequestering of carbon in coastal and marine ecosystems. They will address the big hopes that Blue Carbon offers, as well as what issues might arise.

March 24 / Architecture and the Environment: In partnership with the Asia Pacific Architecture Festival, Brydon Wang and Dr Margaret Cook will meet on the lawn of the UQ Art Museum for a discussion with Dirk Yates about water environments and examples of how architecture has responded to these places in the past and future propositions. 

April 29 / The Body as a Tool for Ocean Research: Dr Izabela Pluta, an artist and academic, and Dr Rebecca Olive, a feminist cultural studies researcher, use their bodies for ocean research: diving, swimming, surfing. In this panel they join UQ Art Museum Education Manger Dr Jacqueline Chlanda to discuss what embodied methodologies can teach us about the ocean, and in turn, what the ocean can teach us about our bodies.

The University of Queensland Art Museum is a site for progressive and contemporary creative inquiry and one of Australia’s leading University Art Museums. Through a thought-provoking program of exhibitions and events, and in collaboration with academic partners, UQ Art Museum challenges audiences to consider new and diverse perspectives on urgent global issues.