Friday 2 June 2023
– Sunday 25 June 2023
- Off-Site Exhibition
Undercurrents: Art and Ocean in Africa and the Pacific
London Design Biennale at Somerset House, London
2 – 25 June 2023
The Glasgow School of Art is participating in Eureka at the London Design Biennale at Somerset House, presenting Undercurrents: Art and Ocean in Africa and the Pacific, an interdisciplinary and international research project where a series of community-led art commissions surface cultural and emotional connections with the ocean in Ghana, South Africa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
View Exhibition Documentation Here
Undercurrents: Art and Ocean in Africa and the Pacific examines the ways that art can express indigenous values relating to ocean governance in Africa and the South Pacific. Climate change, over-fishing, pollution and mining are among numerous stressors that threaten the health of the ocean. While there is growing global awareness of the harm being caused, high-level debates and responses frequently prioritise economic, political and legal considerations. The views of local communities most dependant on the sea are often marginalised or excluded.
One Ocean Hub’s DEEP Fund supported eight community-based art projects in South Africa, Ghana, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea – countries at the frontline of the ocean-climate nexus. In a departure from traditional modes of investigating community relations where priorities are defined by academics and/or practitioners, projects were collaboratively designed to reveal human relationships and emotional connections with the ocean.
Image: Keiskamma Art Project (South Africa), Our Sacred Ocean, 2022, mixed media tapestry (detail). Photo: Alan Dimmick
The Glasgow School of Art pavilion presents a selection of work from two projects, Our Sacred Ocean by the Keiskamma Art Project (South Africa) and Netai en Namou Toc / Stories of Mother Ocean by the Erromango Cultural Association (Vanuatu), as well as a walkthrough of the digital version of the Undercurrents exhibition that was held at the Glasgow School of Art in April 2023.
The showcase is led by Prof Stuart Jeffrey and curated by Dr Lisa McDonald. The project is in partnership with One Ocean Hub.
A digital version of the first iteration of Undercurrents exhibition presented at the Glasgow School of Art in April 2023 will be available here from 8 June 2023.
About the London Design Biennale and Eureka
The fourth edition of London Design Biennale will take place from 1 to 25 June 2023, artistically directed by the Nieuwe Instituut—the Dutch national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture. Eureka is a showcase of design-led innovation changing our world from leading research centres. Eureka will spotlight the ground-breaking creative thinking taking place inside the UK’s university research departments for our society and the economy, while examining the role of institutions in nurturing the next generation of problem solvers.
https://londondesignbiennale.com/
https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/
General admission ticket: from £23. Students and Concessions: £18. Child (12-16): £13