Renata Padovan’s Logbook: Documenting the Ocean for an Immersive Onshore Exhibition

The artist’s project, titled “Water-Air Interface,” aimed to explore and reveal through an immersive installation the unique, mysterious, dynamic, life-filled, fragile, and essential environment of the ocean’s surface. To achieve this, Renata intended to combine photographs, sound recordings, microscopic images, videos, drawings, physico-chemical measurements of the water, and samples collected on board with data on the surrounding areas such as economic activities, demographics, and land use. This combination was intended to illustrate the interactions occurring at the water’s surface, in this environment between two worlds.

April, 2023

I am thrilled I was selected for the residency onboard Tara. My interest in ecological issues made me apply, and I am sure I will greatly benefit from the exchange with scientists about their research projects.

14/09/2023

All onboard, ready for departure.

Excitement, expectation, it will definitely be a new experience for me. 

19/09/2023

Brest, onboard Tara after 5 days at sea. In the beginning, the fear of the unknown. Little by little, after several bruises from hitting here and there, as the waves rolled the boat, I finally felt at home, in the middle of the Ocean.

Feelings

I felt as if I was suspended in time and space, as these concepts gained different magnitudes, but what impressed me most was the dimension of my environment. The surrounding Ocean was so vast, and this vastness made me aware of how small I am, we are, and despite this insignificance, we are able to cause so much harm to the planet, what a disturbing feeling!

At sea, on a sailing boat, I was overcome with the same feeling of being in the middle of a forest. A strong connection with the unpredictable. All senses become alert, the slightest change can unchain unexpected alterations that can totally modify ourselves and our surroundings. Chance has an important role. Chance, le hasard….one branch falls down and the path is blocked, one unpredicted gust of wind and we lose ground, lose balance, affecting our whole body.

This sensation makes it more evident that I am nature, moving in tune with a higher order, that of the universe.

A deeper understanding of the Ocean

The amazing world of plankton was presented to me. The whole process of collecting water, the attention given to minimal details, it’s a very well-orchestrated job. The samples revealed such extraordinary forms that performed a sort of a chaotic ballet, layered in different planes, I was fascinated. The microscopic beings produced a cosmic scene.

While crossing the English Channel at night, I was impressed by the number of commercial ships, lining in both directions, a heavy traffic waterway. One right after the other, they wait for instructions from the maritime control centers. The increasing number of marine watercrafts generates greenhouse gas emissions, oil leakage, litter and noise that disturbs marine animals.

The scale of the vessels impressed me as we entered the Loire estuary, and so did the harbor and numerous industries along its banks, including the Total refineries. It was the ugly image of ‘progress’.  

Works

The Tara Europa expedition was a field research period for me. I was taken by the experience.

My exchanges with scientists and the crew inspired new perspectives while my recordings of a variety of underwater sounds helped me discover an unexplored universe. This was exactly the idea of my proposed project, to collect material for different ends. The immersive installation I proposed is ready to be produced, and as much as I expected, new lines of work opened for me, such as a series of pictures connecting the water with research routes, and 2 new series of photographs I named ‘Ghosts Ships’, one displaying night pictures of a tanker we passed by, and the other an oil drilling vessel.

I brought onboard a pendulum attached to a tripod, anticipating the rocking of the ship. Inside the pendulum, there was an ink pen. It was great to watch the movements marking the paper, sometimes rhythmical repetitions that ended up tearing the fibers, sometimes abrupt changes of direction. It was amusing to actually see all the energy of the waves translated into drawings.

Almost 6 months have passed and whenever I review the material I collected, new ideas come to mind…

It was an extremely stimulating residency, a turning point in my development as an artist. 

Renata Padowan