Ars Electronica Garden Adriatic Sea

Journey: Adriatic Garden | aqua_forensic 2.0

Adriatic Garden | aqua_forensic 2.0 connects two places by the Adriatic Sea: Dubrovnik (HR) and Koper (SI) and gives special attention to our commitment to the values of care, compassion, environmental justice, action-taking and cooperation with the Adriatic Sea and its creatures. The project framework is the aqua_forensic, an ongoing art and science research method developed by Robertina Šebjanič (SI) and Gjino Šutić (HR), which sheds light on the presence of invisible anthropogenic chemical pollutants in the water environment.

The SonoAdriatic tales

The Adriatic Garden will host a wide array of activities: exhibitions, installations, panel discussions, workshops, and much more, while enabling audiences to immerse themselves in the underwater world of the sea. Art, science and citizen science coalesce within the framework of Adriatic Garden | aqua_forensic 2.0, opening up a wider discussion about our solidarity and empathy with waters beyond human perception. Within the project, we would like to give special attention to the values of care, compassion, environmental justice, action-taking and cooperation with the Adriatic sea and its creatures.

The Aqua_forensic Workshops at the Adriatic Garden

With it, we wish to help illuminate the human impact on our waters at the micro / macro level and provide a guideline to the fascinating world of aquatic flora, fauna and minerals and its plight. The aqua_forensic project is known for its special devotion and affinity to participatory engagement through workshops. We all have the capacity to pause, listen, observe and recognize the diversity and quality of the present environment. The aqua_forensic aims to encourage global and local audiences to familiarize themselves with the topics of water pollution and climate change, as well as actively engage in community work on these issues through citizen science oriented workshops. Scientific environments provide the sophisticated tools needed to undertake analysis and build predictive ecological models.

The Sonic Adriatic Garden

In this 40-minute-long program, we will present fragments of compositions by selected artists, which showcase the above or underwater sonic scapes of the Adriatic Sea. All of the featured sound works can be listened to in their entirety within the sonoAdriatic tales program. The Sonic Adriatic Garden is a special part of the project, devoted to the sonic wilderness of the Adriatic Sea, which offers the audiences a chance to immerse themselves into under/above water soundscapes of the region. Audiences are invited to open their ears and listen to the vast array of sounds, among them the sound mapping of the Korčula Island, an artist’s reflection on the tides, the circulation of the water body, and the melodies of diving in submerged caves of the Quarner bay area. Some of the tales deal with underwater noise pollution and showcase the human sonic impact on the underwater habitat and marine life, as well as the presence of morphologies hidden in the palimpsests of memory of the places once heavily exploited in the name of urbanization, tourism and industrial progress that marks the Adriatic Sea

The “Aquaformations” Roundtable

The round table Aquaformations, (International S.A.I.N.T. Caffe) which is part of the Adriatic Garden project, will extensively focus on the values the project aims to stress, namely care, kindness, compassion, environmental justice, action-taking, and cooperation with the Adriatic Sea and its creatures. In discussion with local and international experts and citizens, we will delve into the anthropo-socio-technological relationship with the sea, describe the impact our enterprises have on waters, as well as address the issues we have to tackle to achieve sustainable collaboration among researchers, artists, institutions and citizens, who work in the field of maritime research and conservation. We will also point out how the collaborative endeavors of artists, scientists, citizen scientists and active individuals have the potential to provide excellent support to their local communities. We will host experts on environmental law, biodiversity, marine science, artists addressing ecological / environmental topics, experts working in the commercial sector, educators and many more.

The “Aqua_Forensic” Exhibitions

Aqua_forensic is an artwork that will be exhibited at various locations during the Ars Electronica 2020: This includes the group exhibition Living Objects at the City Art Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia.