In Trade Winds in the Age of Underwater Currents, A Tale of A Tub presents three solo exhibitions of artists who, in different ways, research the phenomena of deep sea mining, coastal ecology and underwater cable networks. The artists involved connect different voices and perspectives together to generate awareness on how extraction through deep-sea mining and the construction of cable infrastructures depletes and pollutes the soils of seas and oceans, and contributes to loss of biodiversity in underwater and coastal ecosystems. In her artistic practice, Kristina Õllek (EE) investigates the changing ecological composition of the Dutch coastline and sheds a critical light on the excavation of minerals such as cobalt, nickel, silver and manganese from the seabed, to employ them for the production of renewable energy technologies in the so-called blue economy. Sami Hammana (NL) draws parallels between the Dutch colonial past and current financial practices that are spreading globally through undersea cable networks. The hypothesis of his research project is simple: there is no functional difference between the colonial practices of the Dutch East India Company fleet and the contemporary speculative market economy that is propagated across the globe via submarine cables. In an ongoing investigation into the increasing interdependence of technological and geological landscapes, material and virtual realities, and natural and artificial worlds, Elisa Strinna (IT) presents her recent work on transatlantic cable networks that support a global system of information transmission.
This exhibition is made possible with the support of the Municipality of Rotterdam and the Mondriaan Fund. The public program is realized in collaboration with The Embassy of the North Sea. Kristina Õllek’s presentation has been made possible with support from the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, the Estonian Embassy in The Hague, and Plado Art Service.
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