Sounding The Sea: Symposium 2017

Artists, writers, historians and scientists celebrated our cultural and physical connections to the sea at ‘Sounding the Sea’ a symposium as part of Hull UK City of Culture.

Organised by Invisible Dust and Steven Bode – Sounding the Sea took place at Ferens Gallery and The University of Hull, 15 – 16 June 2017.

Programme: Sounding the Sea Handout

The programme included leading authors China Miéville and Philip Hoare, artists Alec Finlay, Bik Van der Pol and Mariele Neudecker, marine biologists and ocean campaigners; Professor Alex Rogers, University of Oxford, Dr Magnus Johnson, University of Hull and Jo Ruxton, producer of groundbreaking film Plastic Oceans, for  talks, workshops, artist performances and film screenings.

Varied topics included: the critical importance and health of our oceans, climate change, catastrophes such as tsunamis and earthquakes, bioluminescence and deep sea marine life, Hull’s maritime history, rising sea levels along with our myriad of cultural connections to the sea.

Sounding the Sea was part of exhibitions ‘Offshore: Artists explore the sea’ curated by Invisible Dust at Ferens Gallery and Hull Maritime Museum, and ‘Somewhere Becoming Sea’ curated by Steven Bode, supported by Film and Video Umbrella at Humber Street Gallery.

The symposium was independently supported by the Universities of Hull and Oxford, Arts Council England, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Hull Culture and Leisure and the Wellcome Trust.