In this podcast, artist and researcher Susana Jiménez Carmona talks with scientists Claudio Barría, a marine biologist, and Michel André, a bioacoustician. Both are involved to different degrees in the artistic production and research project ruido ê by Silvia Zayas, an audiovisual and performing artist—a fragment of the film ruido ê can be seen on this same platform. Some issues raised by or arising during the development of this project are addressed here by Barría and André, including interspecific coexistence in coastal cities, encounters with elusive electric rays, the effects of anthropogenic noise on living creatures and marine ecosystems, and collaborations between disparate humans.

Text by Susana Jimenéz Carmona

Credits:
Conducted by Susana Jimenez Carmona
Contributors: Michel André and Claudio Barria

Tan lejos tan cerca, ruido (So far so close, noise)

Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Fana Fraser is currently a U.S. based contemporary dance artist who explores the nature and essence of things within a framework of exploratory embodiment. Her short film, nesting (2023), was filmed both in and near water, at the intersection of physical and philosophical constructs of borders, urgency, and care. It enjoins us to consider the environment, our responsibilities, and our humanity, and, although the film was shot on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, it evokes a feeling of Caribbean consciousness and reality. 
 
Three artists who live and work in the Caribbean region—dance practitioners Sonja Dumas (host) and neila ebankhs, from Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica respectively, as well as Trinidad and Tobago poet Shivanee Ramlochan—examine the work in the context of the Caribbean’s relationship to its environment, the ache of its past, and musings on its future.

Sonja Dumas

Credits:
Contributors: Shivanee Ramlochan and neila ebankhs
Conducted by Sonja Dumas

Of History, Habitat, and The Shore: Framing a Caribbean Discourse around Fana Fraser’s “nesting”

For video podcast in sign language please visit st_age website on the following link: https://www.stage.tba21.org/detail/ocean-for-all

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Abecedarium. The Ocean in Sign Language is the name of a multi-year educational and participatory project in collaboration with ENS, Ente Nazionale Sordi (Italian Deaf Agency), and CNR ISMAR, Institute of Marine Sciences.

The main idea of the project is to create an eco-glossary in sign language, beginning with Italian sign language, before moving to other countries and international signs related to the marine world and the climate emergency. The ocean covers almost the entire Earth, and all human lives depend on the ocean—from the air we breathe to the food we eat to what we wear. Yet the ocean is also endangered because of the great impact of human activities. 

To be able to care for the Ocean it is absolutely fundamental that everybody has access to artistic content and scientific knowledge without exclusion. We all need to be involved in safeguarding the planet, and everyone must have the information and tools required to access it. 

‘Abecedarium, The Ocean in Sign Language’ proposes a vision of an ocean sea as an open access for all to information. This is an engaging and inspirational ocean, where different expressions and experiences converge, and are also translated into tangible manifestations related to contemporary culture.  

Art, in the values it expresses, can be an effective means of social development to achieve this change. Building the possibility of interpreting our history together through training activities, and creating new forms of expression for new situations, for new worlds, means opening up to new areas of cultural growth, thereby guaranteeing processes of democracy, equity, exchange, and cultural interaction between the various components of society.

Contributors: Angela Pomaro and Mirko Santoro
Conducted by Valeria Bottalico

Ocean for all. Art for the development of a sign language eco-glossary

With the rise of artificial intelligence, a new frontier emerges in human cognition and experience. Concepts such as consciousness and creativity are constantly redefined by algorithms and code performances. Extraction, manipulation, and radicalization are some of the intensified side effects of applying computational techniques to traditional media. Can adopting radical transparency, decentralization, and the inclusion of non-human perspectives help us steer this new media toward becoming a productive force of sustainability and regeneration? 
One of the central topics of this episode is the concept of deep fakes, an emergent technology with profound societal implications. The episode further delves into its intricacies through a podcast hosted by Marta Peirano, a journalist specializing in technology and power, who is joined by researcher specializing in deep fakes Henry Ajder and human rights advocate and technologist Sam Gregory. Together, they offer invaluable perspectives on the opportunities and challenges posed by synthetic media. 

Credits:
Contributors: Henry Ajder and Sam Gregory
Conducted by Marta Peirano

Decoding Deep Fakes: AI, Ethics, and the Power of Media

TBA21 on st_age is TBA21’s research and commissioning digital space. Based on long-term relationships of trust, it reaches out to bring a multiplicity of voices and contexts into conversation, supporting artist’s needs throughout both research and practice. 

TBA21 on st_age focuses on environmental and social contemporary artistic practices, and presents video, animation, sound, and text works, as well as projects specifically designed to be experienced online. These are accompanied by a series of contextual materials, which make both the work and the research behind it accessible to a broader audience. These materials include artist-curator conversations, editorial podcasts, research clusters, and calls to actions, as well as the backst_age series, which connects the different projects through conversations, video glossaries, and curated views. All featured works remain the property of the artists and authors.

Of History, Habitat, and The Shore: Framing a Caribbean Discourse around Fana Fraser’s “nesting”

TBA21 on st_age

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