Co-creative science+art+activism experimentations for tightening oceanic kinships
On the 15th of March 2025 at 4 pm CET I’m happy to host the first SAP&O pill, a 15-minute online presentation (followed by some 10 mins R&A) open to everybody willing to listen/watch/being moved by experimentation on our scientific and creative engagement with the Ocean.
SAP&O pills on Feeling the Ocean focuse on how the combination of science, art and participatory processes can contribute to exploring and establishing a connection between society and the ocean. Transectorial and transdisciplinary-inspired artistic and creative processes promoted by scientists, artists, activists, seagoing people and ocean-lovers that experiment with new forms of investigation and expression to explore to motivate, trigger and support our commitments toward ocean challenges. Particularly we focus on participatory or collaborative artistic and creative processes on the belief that engagement can bring about a deeper understanding and commitment of society with ocean hazards and challenges, not only via cultural consumption, but also in experimenting with artistic/performing arts themselves. We are, however, not only interested in these processes per se (and), but also in how art and creative processes can enhance social and natural science research on the ocean, building upon the experience of our discussion group SAP&O. We are interested in how different scientific theories, findings, and methods can be elaborated and shared via artistic creations and co-creative experimentations, and how multiple means and forms of expression (i.e. film, photos, staged performances, digital creations, etc.) can be used to produce collaborative scientific storytelling, science-in-action stories, and emotionally impactful outputs. Embodied and embedded perspectives, from the inside and below narrative approaches able to both describe and stimulate interest and fascination on the scientific aspects of the ocean and society relationships, together with showing the knowledge and art-in-the-making are welcome.
The series of SAP&O pills is part of a collective discussion I’m running with worldwide colleagues and friends on the “SAP&O. Science+Art+Participation on&about the Ocean”
Geraint Rhys Whittaker (Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity + Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research) will entertain us on the 15th of March at 5pm about his work on the UN Ocean Decade-endorsed activity “The Ocean Science Jam: Improvising Spontaneous Oceanic Communities” (https://hifmb.de/transfer/art-science/ocean-jam-night/).
“The Ocean Science Jam is such a project which brings together musicians, artists, dancers, performers, marine biodiversity scientists and the public to respond creatively in real time to visual and audio cues based on a theme related to marine scientists’ work. By mixing creativity with science in an integrative way the Ocean Science Jam not only acts as tool for public communication but also opens new ways for scientific data to be interpreted by non-scientists. I will argue for the benefits of using improvisation and co-creation as a way to create ocean communities of moments of inspiration and connection with the ocean in excess.”
We will meet here: https://unito.webex.com/meet/chiara.certoma
Should you like to share your enthusiasm (and work results!) in a SAP&O pill, just email me! And please feel free to circulate this invitation to everybody potentially interested and on your newsletters, mailing lists etc.
Look forward to seeing you all and (virtually) sharing a tea or a beer during our first SAP&O pill!
Chiara Certomà 