This episode of Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations features the artist and STARTS resident Sonia Levy in conversation with Erika Balsom, a London-based scholar and critic working on cinema, art, and their intersection. During their STARTS residency, Sonia Levy and her collaborators, environmental anthropologist Heather Swanson, ecologist Meredith Root Bernstein, and landscape architect Alexandra Arènes, looked at the Venetian Lagoon through the lens of nature-based solutions to mitigate flood risks. What issues arise from Venice’s long history of taming its waterscape? With a shared commitment to noticing more-than-human worlds, the group strived to forge their own understanding of the controversies arising from the lagoon’s water management.

In Sonia’s eyes, lagoons are fascinating places to think about the meeting of different bodies of water - fresh and saltwater. Filming underwater became a way to get to know the ephemeral world of the lagoon and its processes of transformation in the hope that this submerged perspective might also bring about speculative approaches to policy change.

Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations is produced by TBA21–Academy with the support of STARTS, an initiative by the European Commission.

Special thanks to our guests: Erika Balsom and Sonia Levy.

Editor at large: María Montero Sierra

Sound edited by: Elena Zieser

Introduction and credits voice-over: Nathan Johnson

Music by horizonsnd

Underwater sound recordings of the Venetian Lagoon by Sonia Levy and Jez Riley French

Produced by: Miriam Calabrese, María Montero Sierra, Katarina Rakušček, and the artists.

Hear more episodes at ocean-archive.org or subscribe with your podcast provider.

Every living being is an experiment made out of the flesh of the planet. In order to navigate it, the stars have to become a part of you. This episode of Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations features two discussions that touch upon the interests of the STARTS residents: Sonia Levy is joined by scholar, writer, and surfer Karin Amimoto Ingersoll, while her collaborator Meredith Root-Bernstein talks to philosopher Emanuele Coccia. Together, our guests look at the possibiliy of knowledge otherwise emerging from our interactions with watery spaces. How can immersed perspectives generate epistemologies that challenge imperial structures? How can thinking at the interplay of surface and subsurface processes help us understand both human and more-than-human agency in a changing world?

Part I: Sonia Levy with Karin Amimoto Ingersoll

A Kanaka master navigator enacts his oceanic literacy daily by embodying about 3,000 environmental pieces of information and making about 200 decisions based on the corporeally collected data.

In her conversation with the artist Sonia Levy, Karin Amimoto Ingersoll, a Kanaka Maoli political scientist, writer, and surfer based in Honolulu, discusses her notion of "seascape epistemology”. How can embodied literacies like navigation (ho’okele) and fishing (lawai’a) offer cultural affirmations that open up alternatives to the neocolonial systems that continue to subjugate Hawai’ian identity? In their residency project, Sonia Levy and her collaborators think from within the depths of a very different space: the Venetian Lagoon. How can Ingersoll’s approach informs Levy’s submerged perspectives, initiating life-affirming passageways of knowing and being?

Part II: Meredith Root-Bernstein with Emanuele Coccia

In this conversation, the lagoon is a cocoon: a place of transformation where every single living being reciprocally transforms and is transformed by its environment. The interdisciplinary conservation scientist Meredith Root-Bernstein talks to the philosopher Emanuele Coccia, departing from his works Metamorphosis and The Life of Plants. Examining various approaches to agency and image-making, the residency project was interested in wetland flora as agentive beings instead of passive tools in lagoon restoration projects, echoing biological and ecological concepts such as developmental plasticity and ecosystem engineering. Our guests delve into this interest in moving beyond questions of observation, or gaze, toward a situated and embodied understanding of life on Earth.

Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations is produced by TBA21–Academy with the support of STARTS, an initiative by the European Commission.

Special thanks to our guests: Emanuele Coccia, Karin Amimoto Ingersoll, Sonia Levy, and Meredith Root-Bernstein.

Editor at large: María Montero Sierra

Sound edited by: Elena Zieser

Introduction and credits voice-over: Nathan Johnson

Music by horizonsnd.

Underwater sound recordings of the Venetian Lagoon

by Sonia Levy and Jez Riley French

Produced by: Miriam Calabrese, María Montero Sierra, Katarina Rakušček, and the artists.

Hear more episodes at ocean-archive.org or subscribe with your podcast provider.

In this episode, we are joined by Jol Thoms, a London-based artist and researcher teaching the MA program Art & Ecology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Thoms is the founder of a multi-year sound project called Radio Amnion, commissioning artists and researchers to stream sonic composition from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Radio Amnion explores the magical spaces of intersection between cultural and scientific cosmologies and also joined the STARTS artists-in-residency for their final showcase event at Ocean Space in Venice on the summer solstice in 2021.

In a conversation with Elisa Resconi, an astrophysicist from the Technical University of Munich, and Dwight Owens from Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative of ocean observatories monitoring the Canadian coastline, this episode delves into the deep world of ocean science and compassionate ecological art, departing from the smallest and perhaps most elusive particles described by physics. What happens when science opens up its depths to the transformative potential of art?

"Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations is produced by TBA21–Academy with the support of STARTS, an initiative by the European Commission."

Special thanks to our guests: Dwight Owens, Elisa Resconi, and Jol Thoms

Editor at large: María Montero Sierra

Sound edited by: Elena Zieser

Introduction and credits voice-over: Nathan Johnson

Music by horizonsnd and underwater sound recordings of the Venetian Lagoon by Sonia Levy and Jez Riley French

Produced by: Miriam Calabrese, María Montero Sierra, Katarina Rakušček, and the artists.

Hear more episodes at ocean-archive.org or subscribe with your podcast provider.

In this episode, "Rhythmic Bodies: A Walk Through the Performance-Expedition, Breathings of the moon,” we are joined by curator of performance and ecology Lucia Pietroiusti, who interviews the S+T+ARTS artists in residence Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas to discuss the performance-expedition they developed during their residency in Venice.

In his work Mundus Subterraneus, published in 1665, the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher devised a theory on the movement of water, claiming that water moves in an upward motion from the sea to the mountains. Although incorrect, this theory was the departing point for Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas to explore the notion of water moving upward, the Venetian acqua alta, and the magical rhythms of the lagoon from the perspective of the water itself. This episode focuses on the materiality of their artistic project and its various components: the tides of the Venice Lagoon and its acqua alta, the moon cycles, the rhythm of rowing and the audience’s heartbeat, all becoming magical strategies to help us become attuned to the voice of the water.

Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations is produced by TBA21–Academy with the support of STARTS, an initiative by the European Commission.

Special thanks to our host and guests: Diego Delas, Lucia Pietroiusti, and Leonor Serrano Rivas.

Editor at large: María Montero Sierra

Sound edited by: Elena Zieser

Introduction and credits voice-over: Nathan Johnson

Music by horizonsnd

and underwater sound recordings of the Venetian Lagoon

by Sonia Levy and Jez Riley French

Produced by: Miriam Calabrese, María Montero Sierra, Katarina Rakušček, and the artists.

Hear more episodes at ocean-archive.org or subscribe with your podcast provider.

In this episode, “The Problem of Imagination: The Triangle of Magic-Imagination-Science,” our guests examine three concepts that have historically framed the notion of nature. The hosts, S+T+ARTS artists in residence Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas, engage in a conversation with philosopher and writer Federico Campagna and professor of history of art, science, and folk practices John Tresch.

How do we imagine nature in the time of climate change? Can we redefine scientific knowledge through art? Do fiction and imagination have a reality-altering potential that could help us surpass the dichotomy of problem versus solution? In their conversation, guests Federico Campagna and John Tresch explore some of the key ideas that run through Diego Delas and Leonor Serrano Rivas’s residency in Venice, such as the role of imagination, magic, and technology in interpreting the universe around us, and the power of fiction from the pre-scientific period to today.

Magical Fresh & Salty Conversations is produced by TBA21–Academy with the support of STARTS, an initiative by the European Commission.

Special thanks to our hosts and guests: Diego Delas, Federico Campagna, Leonor Serrano Rivas, and John Tresch.

Editor at large: María Montero Sierra

Editing and sound design: Elena Zieser

Voice over: Nathan Johnson

Sounds: Sonia Levy

Music: horizonsnd

Produced by: Miriam Calabrese, María Montero Sierra, Katarina Rakušček, and the artists.

Hear more episodes at ocean-archive.org or subscribe with your podcast provider.

In the final episode of Aridity Lines, Eyal Weizman (professor of spatial and visual cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and the founding director of Forensic Architecture) recontextualizes his research on the aridity line, stemming from his 2015 book The Conflict Shoreline, and discusses how it can be understood today. Addressing issues of environmental colonialism and its entanglement with structures of violence, namely in occupied Palestine and the Mediterranean region, Weizman reflects on the use of scientific tools and inherited forms of knowledge in his work as well as reconsidering a futurity imbued with unconventional signifiers.

Guest: Eyal Weizman

Hosted by Reem Shadid

Edited by Barbara Casavecchia and Reem Shadid

Introduction and credits voice-over: Jinane Chaaya

Sound editor: Moe Choucair

Produced by María Montero Sierra

Aridity Lines was commissioned by TBA21–Academy and co-produced with Radio Ma3azef as part of The Current III: “Mediterraneans: ‘Thus waves come in pairs’ (after Etel Adnan).”

ENG.

2.8 (De)constructing Venice. Reflection from the outside, with Abiba Coulibaly (geographer) e Ella Navot (visual anthropologist). Ocean Fellowship 2021, TBA21–Academy.

How is Venice seen from the outside? Is it possible to deconstruct the multiple overlapping images associated with Venice? Have you ever imagined Venice as a place of alienation, and segregation? What symbols and images are conjured up for people that come from aboard?

Can we reflect on how to deconstruct political and social images of cultural representation in Venice?

In this episode, entitled “(De)constructing Venice. Reflection from the outside”, we’re going to present a very special collaboration with Abiba Coulibaly and Ella Navot, who designed and wrote the final episode of the second season of "Nowtilus", and who share their experiences in Venice as fellows of the 2021 Ocean Fellowship.

Venice is a construct. If we take the definition in its most literal sense, a construction, according to the Oxford dictionary, is ‘a thing that has been built or made’. But if we expand our interpretation of the word construction to ‘an idea or an imaginary situation’, it also provides a means by which we can explore the non-material frameworks of the city, which frequently intersect and entangle themselves with the more obvious elements of the manmade environment, resulting in the Venice we experience and imagine today. So what does it mean to deconstruct Venice? How is it possible?

Abiba Coulibaly, a geographer based in London, and Ella Navot from Tel Aviv, a visual anthropologist, will create a dialogue that will allow us to reflect upon imaginary borders, segregation, unexpected angles, the Jewish Ghetto, and a careful analysis of the Blackamoors, like the ones represented in the Monument for Giovanni Pesaro at Basilica dei Frari.

These reflections aim to stimulate a necessary revision of the surfaces of Venice, to dive deeper into various multifaceted perspectives, and to ask who exactly is behind the construction of these images, given that such an act is often imbued with a great deal of power, bias, and political implications, even at the subtlest level. This episode presents an interview with Moulaye Nyang, a Senegalese-born glassmaker based in Venice, who tells us his rich life story, along with the challenges and perspectives involved in moving from Senegal to Murano, where he learned the art of Glassmaking, combining it with the traditions of his home country.

Abiba Coulibaly and Ella Navot are two former fellows of the program of TBA21–Academy's Ocean Fellowship 2021. For the 2021 edition of the program, TBA21–Academy partnered with Artis, to support one fellow artist/researcher from Israel whose work addressed aesthetic, social, and political questions that inspired reflection and debate around oceans with an emphasis on the Mediterranean.

The episode is available in English on Ocean-Archive.org and on TBA21–Academy Radio on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

“Nowtilus. Stories from an urban lagoon in the 21st century” is a podcast produced by Ocean Space, Venice, for TBA21–Academy Radio. Music by Enrico Coniglio.

In the fourth episode of Aridity Lines, researcher, writer, and arts practitioner Nadia Christidi discusses water supply systems and water-mediated social relations in Beirut as an entry point into a better understanding of water scarcity or aridity in the Mediterranean as a hydro-social, rather than purely hydrological problem.

Guest: Nadia Christidi

Hosted by Reem Shadid

Edited by Barbara Casavecchia and Reem Shadid

Introduction and credits voice-over: Jinane Chaaya

Sound editor: Moe Choucair

Produced by María Montero Sierra

Aridity Lines was commissioned by TBA21–Academy and co-produced with Radio Ma3azef as part of The Current III: “Mediterraneans: ‘Thus waves come in pairs’ (after Etel Adnan).”

ITA.

Come si nutre una città? In giro per cucine, campi e cantine.

Con Chiara Spadaro (Università Ca Foscari), Marco Bravetti (Tocia! Cucina e Comunità) e Francesco Molinari (Adriatico Mar).

In questo episodio ci occuperemo di cibo, del suo ruolo nello scenario culturale della città, non solo nei contesti della ristorazione, ma anche e soprattutto nella sua complessità che non è mai disgiunta da un approccio multiculturale. Cibo da trasformare, cibo che nasce a Venezia o che arriva da lontano, in cui identificarsi, attorno a cui trovare delle comunità, con cui attivare delle riflessioni. A bordo di “Nowtilus” ascoltiamo i pensieri e le storie di Chiara Spadaro, dottoranda in Geografia all’Università Ca Foscari, con un progetto di ricerca sulle politiche del cibo nella laguna di Venezia, Marco Bravetti, cuoco-ricercatore e fondatore di “Tocia! Cucina e Comunità”, un’associazione culturale che fa del cibo un’ingrediente fondamentale per una rivoluzione sociale e Francesco Molinari, oste e proprietario di Adriatico Mar, non una semplice osteria bensì un vero e proprio crocevia di sapori e mescite naturali.

L'episodio è disponibile su Ocean-Archive.org e su TBA21–Academy Radio su SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts e Google Podcasts.

"Nowtilus. Storie da una laguna urbana del 21esimo secolo" è un podcast realizzato da Ocean Space, Venezia, per TBA21–Academy Radio. Musiche di Enrico Coniglio.

ENG.

How does a city feed itself? A tour of kitchens, fields, and cellars.

With Chiara Spadaro (Ca Foscari University), Marco Bravetti (Tocia! Cuisine and Community), and Francesco Molinari (Adriatico Mar).

In this episode we will be dealing with food and its role in the cultural context of the city, not only in terms of restaurants, but also in terms of its complexity, which can’t be separated from a multicultural approach. Food that is transformed or created in Venice, or food that comes from afar, with which we might identify, around which we might find communities, and which might give us reason to reflect. Aboard “Nowtilus” we’ll be listening to the thoughts and stories of Chiara Spadaro, PhD student in Geography at Ca’ Foscari University, with a research project on food policies in the Venice lagoon, Marco Bravetti, chef-researcher and founder of “Tocia! Cucina e Comunità” (Cuisine and Community), a cultural organization that makes food a key ingredient in social revolution, and Francesco Molinari, host and owner of Adriatico Mar, not a mere bar, but a true crossroads of natural flavors and beverages.

This episode is available in Italian on http://Ocean-Archive.org and on TBA21 – Academy Radio on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

“Nowtilus. Stories from an urban lagoon in the 21st century” is a podcast produced by Ocean Space, Venice, for TBA21 – Academy Radio. Music by Enrico Coniglio

IT.

“Contro/correnti. Grandi navi, rampe da skate e attivismo rinnovato" con Marco Baravalle (S.a.L.E. Docks, Comitato No Grandi Navi - Laguna Bene Comune), Francesca Guarnotta (Venice Calls), Andrea Curtoni e Giulia Mazzorin (Biennale Urbana).

Il sesto episodio di “Nowtilus" è dedicato alle azioni di rigenerazione culturale e difesa dell’ambiente lagunare. Andremo alla scoperta di alcune pratiche e esperienze di cura, difesa e re-immaginazione della città che sono sorte da dinamiche cittadine spontanee, fuori dagli schemi istituzionali. Come in ogni città, anche Venezia ha visto il sorgere, negli anni, di progetti, associazioni, gruppi, comitati, che si interrogano sulle necessità del tessuto urbano e ambientale e vanno a colmare quelle zone di fragilità di cui l’apparato istituzionale e politico - per scelta o noncuranza - sembra non tutelare abbastanza. Tra le tante storie che la laguna può offrire, abbiamo deciso di ospitare quelle di Marco Baravalle che ci racconta della nascita e missione di S.a.L.E. Docks e delle forza cittadina e l’eco internazionale che il "Comitato No Grandi Navi - Laguna Bene Comune" è riuscito a catalizzare; con Francesca Guarnotta parliamo del giovane gruppo di volontario e attivisti di Venice Calls, che aiutano la città nelle grandi e piccole emergenze di ogni giorno e infine con Andrea Curtoni e Giulia Mazzorin, conosciuti anche come Biennale Urbana, abbiamo il piacere di ascoltare le storie di due esperienze di rigenerazione urbana davvero significative ancora oggi: quelle del Teatro Marinoni e della mCaserma Pepe al Lido.

L'episodio è disponibile in italiano su Ocean-Archive.org e su TBA21–Academy Radio su SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts e Google Podcasts.

"Nowtilus. Storie da una laguna urbana del 21esimo secolo" è un podcast realizzato da Ocean Space, Venezia, per TBA21–Academy Radio. Musiche di Enrico Coniglio.

ENG.

"Against / currents. Big ships, skate ramps, and renewed activism" with Marco Baravalle (S.a.L.E. Docks, Comitato No Grandi Navi - Laguna Bene Comune), Francesca Guarnotta (Venice Calls), Andrea Curtoni and Giulia Mazzorin (Biennale Urbana).

The sixth episode of “Nowtilus" is focussed on acts of cultural regeneration and defending the lagoon environment. We will be exploring practices and experiences relating to safeguarding, defending, and reimagining the city that have spontaneously arisen from the city’s unique dynamics, independently from institutional projects. As is the case in every city, over the years Venice has also seen the rise of projects, associations, groups, and committees that task themselves with tackling the needs of the urban and environmental fabric, filling the gap left by the institutional and political apparatus in vulnerable areas, where, either by choice or through carelessness, they don’t appear to be offering the right support. Among the many stories that the lagoon can offer, we have decided to give a platform to those of Marco Baravalle, who tells us about both the foundation and mission of S.a.L.E. Docks, and the “No Grandi Navi Committee - Laguna Bene Comune” which has managed to catalyze the strength of citizens, echoing all around the world; Francesca Guarnotta, who talks about the young volunteers and activists from Venice Calls, who help the city in everyday emergencies, no matter how large or small; and finally Andrea Curtoni and Giulia Mazzorin, also known as Urban Biennale, who tell us the stories of two examples of urban regeneration that are still particularly relevant to this day: the Marinoni Theater and the Caserma del Pepe barracks on the Lido.

The episode is available in Italian on Ocean-Archive.org and on TBA21–Academy Radio on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

“Nowtilus. Stories from an urban lagoon in the 21st century” is a podcast produced by Ocean Space, Venice, for TBA21 – Academy Radio. Music by Enrico Coniglio.