29.11.2022
10:00 – 18:00
UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Visitor Centre, Wilhelmshaven
More info HERE

The Beauty of Proximity: Sensing the Wadden Sea project featuring artist Sophia Bulgakova & curator Anastasia Loginova will be presented during The 14th Trilateral Governmental Conference (TGC), which takes place in Wilhelmshaven from 28 November to 1 December 2022. The conference themed “Together for ONE Wadden Sea World Heritage” is hosted by the current German Presidency over the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation and organised by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment in collaboration with the Lower Saxon Ministry for the Environment and the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority, supported by the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat.

During workshops at the Oberschule Dorum (Germany), the artist Insa Winkler and the curator Anne-Marie Melster together with the students created ‘Kunstreusen’ made of willow sticks, which form a giant North Sea shrimp and were suspended in the Wadden Sea in early July. This commemorates the uniqueness of Erhard Djuren, the last remaining willow trap fisher in the region. Particular attention was paid to the feasibility of alternative ecological techniques in the future.

In Schiermonnikoog and Uithuizen (The Netherlands), the artist Sophia Bulgakova supported by the curator Anastasia Loginova created ‘The Beauty of Proximity: Sensing the Wadden Sea’. It also consisted of two series of workshops where she, together with the marine biologist Renate Prins, and the students explored the Wadden Sea in Friesland and on the island of Schiermonnikoog with all their senses. They reflected on the effects of climate change on the Wadden Sea. They did so incorporating video, dance, and games.

In Wilhelmshaven we are coming together to reflect on, and discuss these past events. We will screen for a first time the two films that were created during the workshops this summer, next to participatory activities and an exhibition of the artistic outcomes. There will also be time to directly interact with all of the participants and ask questions during a fishbowl discussion, including artists, curators, students and scientists.

The Dutch part of the WE ARE OCEAN Wadden Sea program launched by ARTPORT_making waves in collaboration with iii, combing artists and scientists on the topic of ocean literacy and climate change. The Beauty of Proximity is created in collaboration with Zeehondencentrum Pieterburen, marine biologists Renate Prins & Sander van Dijk, videographer Batuhan Keskiner and facilitator Emily Oxenaar.

A trilateral collaboration between ARTPORT_making waves and iii, curated by Anne-Marie Melster and Anastasia Loginova in partnership with the World Heritage Center Wadden Sea (WEC), delivered by the artist Sophia Bulgakova in The Netherlands.

Further artists of the trilateral WE ARE OCEAN Wadden Sea program are artist Insa Winkler in Germany and artist Tue Greenfort (curated by Julia Moritz) in Denmark.

This project is part of the WE ARE OCEAN Global Program which is endorsed by UNESCO as a UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Action until 2030. The international collaboration between iii and ARTPORT_making waves is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.