Symposium: Life down below, in the marvellous depths. Exploring the oceans through contemporary ecology, science, speculation and fiction

More than 90% of the planet’s living organisms live in the depths of the oceans. Microscopic life forms or huge cetaceans, strange and intelligent creatures; an underwater world with an enormously varied population. The sea bed, however, is also inhabited by countless remains of shipwrecks, vestiges of failed journeys, the ghosts of colonialism, and more: human culture submerged in time.

Through international voices from the worlds of science, art and ecology this encounter focuses on a wide range of themes ranging from sound ecology and migratory flows to the slave trade or the decline of biodiversity, raising questions in order to consider the oceans from the present day and to weave new accounts in which biology and history, material and myth are among the threads.

The symposium is organised by TBA21 in collaboration with the Institute of Postnatural Studies and within the context of the exhibition Wu Tsang. Of Whales.