[photo G. Lupinacci/Raw-News]
At the RGS with IBG Conference 2025, held at the University of Birmingham, 26-29th Aug, CO>SEA and PartArt4OW are present with the following contributions:
- On the 27th of August 2025, Chiara Certomà (Sapienza University of Rome, MEMOTEF Dep.) and Federico Fornaro (Raw-News Visual Production Agency), research team CO>SEA, presented the premiere of the new short-documentary “Around Alone. Documenting Ocean Relationships” at the Royal Geographical Sociaty with IBS Annual Conference 2025 (RGS AC2025), University of Birmingham, “Film Geography” session.. This third documentary contribute to documenting Ocean Relationships in creative, together with the first two short docs (“Blue Kinships. Documenting Ocean Relationships” and “Sense of Place. Documenting Ocean Relationships”), both screened at the RGS during the “Film Geography” session.
FILM 1 Blue Kinships. Documenting Ocean Relationships (7.35 mins). Scripted and directed by Federico Fornaro, Filmed by Federico Fornaro and Giuseppe Lupinacci, Scientific project coordination Chiara Certomà. Through a seamless collaboration between researchers and media professionals, the video investigates the transformative potential of video and photography in marine social science, showcasing how visual storytelling contributes to a deeper understanding of the ocean-society relationship. Blue Kinships introduces our theoretical and methodological approach by discussing the seamless collaboration between researchers and media professionals for exploiting the transformative potential of video and photography in marine social science, showcasing how visual storytelling contributes to a deeper understanding of the ocean-society relationship. It presents the emergent movement of ideas and practices interpreting the ocean as a conceptual and physical space where ever-evolving environmental and socio-cultural entanglements are generating new complex, heterogeneous and mutable ecological systems. The research argues that addressing the challenge of tightening the link between society and the ocean cannot be achieved by technological solutions alone, but requires a multidisciplinary understanding of the ocean’s influence on the human, non-human and more-than-human society. By showcasing theoretical insights, methodological innovations, and real-world case studies, the book puts the ocean at the heart of global health and fosters the emerging field of marine social geography. The documentaries have been produced with the support and for the following research projects: European Project PartArt4OW and Sapienza_CoSea_Lab, and with the endorsement of the UN Ocean Decade Program.
FILM 2 The Sense of Place. Documenting Ocean Relationships (6.40 mins) Directed by Federico Fornaro, Filmed by Federico Fornaro and Giuseppe Lupinacci, Scientific project coordination Chiara Certomà. The Sense of Place presents a first application of the team methodology to investigate the oceanic “sense of place” through the experience of seagoing people, complementing critical ocean geography. Through a seamless collaboration between researchers and media professionals, the documentary exemplifies the power of visual documentation in marine social geography and in catalysing engaged, transformative, and participatory research related to the ocean. Focusing particularly on the perspectives of seagoing individuals—especially surfers—the video-doc kick-off the investigation of how an affective connection with the ocean is formed and expressed, by adopting emotional communication approach around the concept and lived experience of “sense of place”. It demonstrates how visual storytelling can deepen understanding of emotional attachment to the ocean. The documentaries have been produced with the support and for the following research projects: European Project PartArt4OW and Sapienza_CoSea_Lab, and with the endorsement of the UN Ocean Decade Program.
FILM 3 WORLD PREMIERE at RGS IBG 2025. Around Alone. Documenting Ocean Relationships (6.25 mins). Directed by Federico Fornaro, Shot and edited by Federico Fornaro and Giuseppe Lupinacci, Scientific project coordination Chiara Certomà. Continuing the exploration of the “sense of oceanic place” as a key concept and form of knowledge in the social geography of the sea, Roman navigator Matteo Miceli’s story shows us the high seas as a space imbued with cultural and symbolic meaning, discovered and experienced with the aid of eco-sustainable equipment on a completely self-sufficient world voyage aboard the Eco40 vessel. This expanded considerations on using filmmaking and in general visual documentation as a research practice building our theoretical and methodological considerations on the immersive experience of the research projects. Around Alone shows how -rather than merely presenting theory via alternative communicative forms- visual techniques contribute to the evolution and enrichment of scientific discourse by offering unique perspectives and insights for cultural geography research. The documentaries have been produced with the support and for the research project PRIN 2024_DSICity.
- On the 28th Aug 2025, Chiara Certomà and Federico Fornaro are giving a broader presentation with the overall contribution “CO>SEA. Creative experimentations with visual methods in Marine Social Geography” during the session “Cultivating creativity for inclusive research practice: Experiences, rewards and challenges”. They explained CO>SEA_Collaboratorium for Socio-Environmental Analysis of the Ocean is a newly established research group conducting engaged action-research and participatory transformative practices. It aims to reconceptualise and practicize the material-semiotic nature of societal assemblages in relationship with the Ocean, through transdisciplinary exploration, documentation, engagement and creative and grassroot techniques. They presented lessons learned from past research projects to wonder whether and how genuine openness to creative, innovative practices beyond traditional academic approaches, along with transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration, can advance theoretical and methodological development in the new field of Marine Social Geography and Visual Research. Specifically, they question how creative methods, especially those combining video-photographic research, complement and challenge scientific investigation, influence research contexts, and enrich participatory practices. This is particularly relevant at the liminal land/sea interface, in the turbulent materiality and fluid spatiality of the open ocean.
- Oral presentation of the CO>SEA team is complemented with the RGS AC2025, which hosted the photographic exhibition “An intimate connection. Society and the Ocean in Water Photography” (27-29th August, “Digital Art Installation” session). The photographic exhibition by Giuseppe Lupinacci (Raw-News) for the EU project PartArt4OW presents thirty one artistic photos, realised from below and inside the sea that portray diverse ways in which people create and understand their connection with the liquid, turbulent, mutable and unpredictable watery context. Framed within the marine social geography perspective investigated by the CO>SEA research, the exhibition narrates the ocean as a site of constant chance biochemical transformation and cultural understanding. Displayed photography have been realised as a solo chapter for the just released book “Blue Kinships. An Exploration of Society & the Ocean” (ed.by C.Certomà, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2025), available here https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-78619-8. The slideshow is available here: https://youtu.be/O9bv9TXZVPk?si=2mPqUu_F-dan2owm
[Italian: “Un’intima connessione. Società e Oceano nella fotografia d’acqua”: Lo slideshow presenta gli scatti di una mostra fotografica realizzata da Giuseppe Lupinacci/Raw-News per il progetto europeo PartArt4OW, ideato e realizzato in collaborazione con Chiara Certoma’ e Federico Fornaro. Trentuno foto artistiche, realizzate dal basso e dall’interno del mare, ritraggono diversi modi in cui le persone creano e comprendono il loro legame con il contesto acquatico liquido, turbolento, mutevole e imprevedibile. Inquadrata nella prospettiva della geografia sociale marina indagata dal ColLaboratorio CO>SEA per l’Analisi Socio-Ambientale dell’Oceano, la mostra racconta l’oceano come un sito di costante possibilità e trasformazione, di compenetrazione e di simbiosi bio-chimiche e culturali che trasformano la nostra comprensione e plasmano i valori relazionali che ci collegano al mondo marino e ispirano il nostro attaccamento emotivo all’oceano.]
- On the 28th Aug 2025, Certomà is presenting on “Community economies in place. Reading for difference Digital Social Innovation in augmented cities for imagining diverse economies” (by Certoma’ and Paolo Giaccaria, University of Turin), in the “Thinking creatively about futures for geographical research on the economy” session. Supported by the PRIN2022 MIUR project, the contribution drew on non- dualistic digital geography contributions, and the material semiotic perspective, to suggest the possibility for genuinely emancipatory socio-technological agency performed by heterogenous networks in the urban context toward creative social economies; and considered how DSI operating in the multi-layered spaces of everyday urban life is relevant for a critical geography open to weak theorising emancipatory practices.
- On the 29th Aug 2025, CO>SEA team is among the conference session organisers (led by Baiba Pruse, University of Cork), “Where Art meets Science for Our Ocean and Seas” facilitating ocean encounter with society via creative practices, promoted by the EU project TidalArt and PartArt4OW.
- On the 29th Aug 2025, Certomà and Fornaro are also contributing to the collaborative workshop “On the sea edge: creative approaches to marine and coastal future” with a presentation of CO>SEA investigative methods.
Full program: https://www.rgs.org/media/lhrejjbs/ac2025-programme-grid-view-18-august-2025.pdf
Press release
Chiara Certomà 
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