A Seat for the Sea

Man and the sea are in tension. The sea is a source of both prosperity and deprivation; it provides us with food, but also challenges us with its immense power. A Seat for the Sea (ASFTS) leads the audience into a different ambiguity. A serene sound resounds, indeed, until a sharp metallic cracking calls you to order. “Everything is under control,” an engineer declares vehemently, until islanders ask if the sea is his.

ASFTS evokes a new form of violence: that of deep-sea mining. This extractivism is upon us. It’s going after the ocean’s metals. Kilometers deep, excavators will sink their teeth into volcanic crusts and polymetallic nodules, because they contain metals. And no one can estimate their impact.

Let us descend into the gloom of a marine microcosm. The installation is a haptic portal, an access to sensations. With a shell to your ear, you can hear the sea, smell the sea, and see seaweeds within reach. Then reason speaks. The industry’s arguments sound convincing, its technology seems superior. But does the case for deep-sea mining hold up when we listen to the organisms of the deep sea, the currents, the sediments, our companions, in their own environment?

During their residency at C-Takt, the duo Greet Brauwers & Raf Custers will join their team to complete the ASftS performance installation, “Beyond the Dirt, in 5 Selfies.”