Ionian Bisai

Ocean is Future is a deep dive in the depthiness of underwater geographies, reimagining human and more-than-human relationships attempting to destabilize traditional land-based modes of thinking and living and the structures that control them.

This video work is an attempt to find new creative ways of digital research during an unprecedented global stasis, that of the pandemic. The footage is taken from various operations of E/V Nautilus, an exploration vessel ‘exploring unknown regions of the ocean seeking out new discoveries in biology, geology, and archaeology’. During the expeditions, E/V Nautilus offers the global public a remote exploration experience via live video, audio, and data feeds from the field.

In Ocean is Future, the artist interweaves imagery of a hidden world: the liquid subfloor, seamounts, hydrothermal vents and queer aquatic beings are encountered during bathymetric mapping from underwater vehicles in the deep ocean. With the sequences of images structured in a split-screen view and the narratives nested within one another, the video work reflects the rhythmic fluidity of water and the incessant swelling and receding of the tides. The submerging into this ancient but unexplored world allows us to think of hybridity and interconnectedness, fostering engaged ways of caring for the enviroment.