Sea Monster
2023300 x 200 x 600 cm
Ceramic, steel, plaster, water
Cargo ships carrying containerised worlds, endless kilometers of submarine cables, anchors as big as trucks and sounds so loud they can kill characterise human presence in the high seas. Akin to sea monsters, the colossal scale and impact of offshore infrastructure remains hidden, existing deep within the ocean, beyond physical and imaginal horizons. Sea Monster is a sound installation in which the ocean’s anthropogenic soundscape can be experienced through the physical act of breath holding.
A sensor capable of detecting the breathing of spectators, activates the sonic component of the installation whilst viewers hold their breath.
The resulting sounds are an unsettling cacophony of underwater human soundscapes. Loud waters, unknown to humans above the surface, and destructive for inhabitants living below the water line.
The land-sea border is a very well defined line in cartography, as well as in our imaginary understanding of national boundaries. This map illustrates the density of cargo ships and fishing vessels in EU sea basins throughout the year 2021 as well as submarine telecomunication cables. It was made using data from the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) to portray the ramifications of human activity into maritime space.
The boundaries of the coastline are gone, what emerges is an interface between humans and the high seas which is more of a blur rather then a razor sharp border line.
This support system and its ramifications come to form a complex system, too large to fully comprehend and understand.
The figure of the Sea Monster was once used to simplify and understand unfathomable natural phenomena such as tidal currents an ambiguous life forms. In present times however, human systems are proving to be equally complex and challenging to understand.