Public Program 2023

TBA21–Academy's public program at Ocean Space aims to look for creative propositions to the most pressing issues facing the Ocean today in the hope of creating new transformative and participatory visions for the future.

This year, we bring a rich program of performances, talks, walks, and culinary explorations to Ocean Space, stemming in part from the curatorial fellowship program The Current III Mediterraneans: "Thus waves come in pairs" (after Etel Adnan), 2021–2023, led by Barbara Casavecchia, alongside multiple collaborations.

Our commitment to raising questions around food sovereignty and the food industry's ecological impact, explored through Convivial Tables, is strengthened in this year's collaboration with "FOODSCAPES", the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. "FOODSCAPES" takes viewers on a journey examining the architectures that feed us. In shared sessions, co-produced with TBA21–Academy at Ocean Space, the program will invite experts and architects to discuss the ecosystemic implications of the production, distribution, and consumption of food.

Talks

Conversations with artists, researchers, and writers interweaving poetry, science, and situated ecology in collaboration with local institutions and national initiatives. Spoken words will become waves to drift with and carry our thoughts while we consider climate and cultural change with diverse voices from the Mediterranean shores.

Performances

Building on the itinerant, long-term methodology of The Current fellowship program, this performance stream, springing from the many collaborations of The Current III, draws on the interconnections of our Mediterranean inquiries.

The lagoon / has the moon /between its legs / playing ball

Walks

The new cycle of itinerant conversations, curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi and guided by activists, scientists, and guardians of this body of water and its inhabitants, moves into the twilight and the silence of the night, exploring how humans and more-than-humans coexist in Venice and its lagoon after dark.

Screenings

A screening series with many collaborations and convivial encounters with filmic narrations, opening and widening our exchanges on art and ecologies.

Food

A hands-on research program contributing to the ongoing discussion on food resources by raising awareness of the potential harm of everyday routines and encouraging an interspecies approach toward the food supply chain that would be regenerative for our ecosystem. With The Tidal Garden, we will explore the edible potential of halophytes as a tool for cultural adaptation to climate change.