Artists Dive Into Ocean Advocacy in Madrid and Miami

Art Basel has announced a new partnership with Parley for the Oceans, while TBA21 plans to immerse visitors in the agency of the oceans.

Approximately 70,000 international delegates have descended on Dubai for United Nations climate change conference COP 28, which includes a session on nature, land use, and oceans.

The oceans have absorbed about 90% of the heat generated by rising emissions, and their health is a particular focus of new initiatives and exhibitions in the art world.

Art Basel and non-profit Parley for the Oceans have announced a long-term collaboration beginning with this year's edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. Together they have launched a fundraising initiative that aims to collect one pound of plastic for every dollar donated.

Parley will also have a space at the fair where they will present data on 'the beauty and fragility of our oceans' through collaborations with Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer, Katharina Grosse, Pipilotti Rist, Doug Aitken, and more.

In Collins Park, Parley for the Oceans will present a series of works by Julian Schnabel called Ocean.Climate.Life., which previously showed at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

In Madrid, art foundation TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary is presenting the group exhibition Liquid Intelligence at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza through 28 January, exploring the natural or 'liquid' knowledge that the ocean provides.

'We need to start inventing and imagining ways of recognising that nature and the ocean have their own agency,' explained curator Chus Martínez.

The exhibition features work by pioneering 'earth-body' artist Ana Mendieta, painter Lucas Arruda and sculptor Jumana Manna, as well as audiovisual commissions by Beatriz Santiago Muñoz and Sonia Levy.

Site specific works include whimsical sculptures by Saelia Aparicio and monumental paintings by Inês Zehna exploring aquatic queerness. Deep-sea sexuality is also on display in Anne Duk Hee Jordan's video and sculptural installation Ziggy and the Starfish, concurrently exhibited in RE/SISTERS at the Barbican in London.

The show marks the start of a series of programming that brings ocean advocacy to the forefront in Madrid. In 2024, TBA21 will organise solo exhibitions at the Thyssen also curated by Chus Martinez—Filipina-Canadian video artist Stephanie Comilang from 5 March to 26 May, followed by French-Guianese new media artist Tabita Rezaire from 8 October to 19 January.

While TBA21 is promoting ocean conservation through conceptual practices, individual artists across the globe are also taking action, often through tactile or craft-based work.

Courtney Mattison, for example, is an American ceramicist and sculptor with a background in marine sciences.

'The mission of all of my work is to visualise climate change through the fragile beauty of marine life,' she said.

Through intricate, ceramic installations ranging from vibrantly colourful to bleached coral, Mattison draws audiences' attention to dying coral reefs.

Indonesian textile artist Mulyana also highlights coral conservation with large-scale installations, but through knitting and crocheting. Last week, the group exhibition BLUTOPIA opened at the GATE33 Gallery in Hong Kong, conceived as a digital art aquarium to promote marine biodiversity. Mulyana's contribution Symphilia incorporates technology by allowing audiences to explore his crocheted marine environment while using mixed reality headsets.

Painters like Boston-based Nedret Andre or Miami artist Mira Lehr, who died earlier this year, have turned to abstraction to highlight environmental threats. Andre is especially interested in seagrass conservation. Her practice is quite literally grassroots, as her work has inspired her to volunteer locally with ecologists, which has in turn influenced her paintings.

When asked if art can be a tool for ocean advocacy, Martínez was optimistic.

'In the years I have been working with TBA21, I've experienced it myself,' she said.

'At the beginning I would say that people were very sceptical, and always thought that art would illustrate and help get scientific ideas into the public. Now they understand that art is getting us ready.' —[O]

Additional reporting by Sam Gaskin