“Oceanic Thinking” presents new ways of understanding the ocean and the adjacent blue spaces of our planet. It invites you to consider how we may be able to think together with these liquid, vast, biodiverse and non-binary spaces to speculate on our collective future.
Artworks reveal cutting-edge perspectives and research, and stimulate discussions about race, the ongoing extractive colonial project, climate crises, decolonisation, languages, industries, sci-fi, diasporas, interspecies relations and kinship.
The exhibition’s title is a play on the psychoanalytic phrase “oceanic feeling”: the sensation of a boundless, everlasting bond with the world as a whole.
Artists: Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Isha Ram Das, Elise Rasmussen, Izabela Pluta, Monira Al Qadiri, Tabita Rezaire, Stephanie Comilang, Alicia Mersy, Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Kuruwarriyingathi Bijarrb Paula Paul, Salote Tawale, Benjamin Armstrong, Charles Callins, Andreas Angelidakis and SUPERFLEX.
Oceanic Thinking is the inaugural exhibition of the multi-year project Blue Assembly. In collaboration with campus partners including UQ’s Centre for Marine Science, the project coincides with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
Images:1. Superflex, “Dive-In”, 2019. Dive-In was originally commissioned by Desert X in collaboration TBA21–Academy with music composed by Dark Morph (Jónsi and Carl Michael von Hausswolff). Photo: Lance Gerber, courtesy of Desert X.
2. Alicia Mersy, “Nobody owns the sea”, 2020, still from single channel video, 12:51 minutes. Courtesy of the artist.
3. Salote Tawale, “I don’t see colour”, 2021, still from video, 5:45 minutes HD video, colour and sound. Courtesy the artist.
4. Elise Rasmussen, “Did you know blue had no name?”, 2018, Still from 16mm film transferred to HD, courtesy of the artist.