The Ocean Fellowship Program is a funded research opportunity offered by TBA21–Academy and held at Ocean Space in Venice. The paid Fellowship supports participants to work at novel knowledge and practice intersections on and with the oceans in a time of climate and ecological emergency.
For this program, TBA21–Academy hosts scholars and practitioners from across disciplines to convene for a short but intense period of co-research and development on Oceanic topics. It reflects the Academy’s long-standing practice of mobilizing art and science to promote ocean literacy, advocacy, and action. Crafted through a wide network of scientists, arts practitioners, activists, and collaborators, the Ocean Fellowship fosters critical discourse and imaginative possibilities around the current status and future of the oceans in a perilous moment.
The 2021 edition is closely affiliated with the exhibition The Soul Expanding Ocean #1: Taloi Havini, to be held at Ocean Space from March 20 to October 17, 2021. The fellowship also forms an integral part of The Current III (working title: The Mediterraneans: “Thus waves, come in pairs,” after Etel Adnan), a transdisciplinary and transregional exercise in sensing, listening, thinking, and learning with - by connecting and supporting situated projects, collective pedagogies, and voices along the Mediterranean shores across the fields of art, culture, science, conservation, and activism. The program supports six Fellows and two Mentors to conduct individual and collaborative research as well as investigations with an awareness of oceanic worldviews and marine histories; an understanding of the changes in ocean management and recognition of indigenous marine governance and leadership; non-binarism as a philosophy; equality and social justice. This year, the Fellowship brings attention to story-telling as a method, as an action to portray and convey a territory, a mindset, and a substance, encouraging intergenerational exchange, building resilience in communities, and strengthening citizenship.
For the 2021 edition of the Ocean Fellowship, we are proudly partnering with Artis, who is supporting one fellow artist or researcher from Israel whose work addresses aesthetic, social, and political questions that inspire reflection and debate around oceans with an emphasis on the Mediterranean.
*We are aware that the worldwide situation due to Covid-19 will severely limit international travel. However, we still encourage you to apply to the Ocean Fellowship. If future restrictions won't allow Ocean Space to reopen, the Ocean Fellowship will be transformed into a digital program, as it was in 2020. We hope this can be a positive message to encourage research and collaboration despite the obstacles caused by the pandemic.
OCEAN FELLOWSHIP 2021 PARTICIPANTS
- MENTORS
- Rosalyn D'Mello
- Cécile Hummel
- FELLOWS
- Chahinez Bouguerche
- Shoghig Halajian & Johanna Breiding
- Calypso 36°2 1 (Justine Daquin & Zoé Le Voyer)
- Nadia Christidi
- Abiba Coulibaly
- Ella Navot