Join our afternoon creative sessions and help us imagine a place where people can explore, enjoy, and protect the ocean in a fun and enjoyable way.
- Time: Sign up for an afternoon creative session anytime between Oct 24 to 29, 2023 from lunch to sunset (11AM to 6PM). Lunch and merienda will be served to registered participants.
- Location: SIFCare-CURMA, Subdivision, 374 Saint Jude, San Juan, La Union, Philippines
- Contact: Louise Fortinez: +63 966 758 7806
- Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/LA4OBzkfnGi851D59UnUtS
- Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/308679528461815
- Website: https://www.international-ocean-station.org
Please also join us on for the launch of the ocean station model on Sunday October 29 at sunset!
- Cesar Jung-Harada: https://linktr.ee/cesarharada
- Emerging Islands: https://www.emergingislands.com/
- CURMA: https://sifcare.org/curma/
- Young Earth Saver Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/454336524670416/
- Alliance Francaise Manila: https://www.alliance.ph/accueil-en/
- The Mind Museum: https://www.themindmuseum.org/
Concept Note
Global warming disproportionately affects youth and Indigenous1 coastal communities in Asia2. Yet, they are the groups that are generally excluded from the conversation, without a political voice, and undervalued as collaborators in the fields of science and art. How can young and Indigenous people take their future in their own hands, dream, design and transform their environment themselves? The ocean is where all life started; it feeds billions of us, transports over 90% of our goods, and helps to regulate the climate. But human societies, especially those that have experienced urbanization, have become increasingly disconnected to the seas that surround us; to many, the ocean is mysterious at best, dangerous at worst. “International Ocean Stations” harks to the spirit of adventure that drove the international race to the moon, but subverts the elitist, technology-driven implications of space exploration. Like the ocean itself, the International Ocean Station is a playground, free for anyone to explore and enjoy. It starts with a dream, an open-ended conversation, an evocation of what could be. It’s designed by the youth and the Indigenous population, the fisherfolks, the elders, the visitors as it is an evolving instrumentation to explore and protect the sea, and our future. It may sound like the fantasy of a mad man, but it is a construction of the collective. In the north of the Philippines, the ArtScientist in Residence Cesar Jung-Harada, is playing on the beach. Together with a group of newly found friends, they collect marine debris, and assemble intricate designs of a floating architectural model. As they build from reclaimed materials, they share stories from the past and the futures, their fears and their aspirations. The most ambitious endeavors might feel like myths or scifi, but that’s how every invention feels at first, between reality and magic, both art and science. The process of co-creating an ocean station will be broken down into the following parts:
Research phase: community visits and story gathering
- We will visit partner communities to discuss the concept, and invite them to share their
- We will facilitate interviews and a countermapping session, to gather story material for the
experiences with the ocean, and to brainstorm on ideas and thoughts about what the
ocean station could be like.
final presentation.
Materials gathering
- We will do visits to trash collection agencies, and do trash collecting sessions by the
- A trash census will be done to study the material gathered.
seaside, together with partner communities, to gather waste material to be used for
constructing the Ocean Station.
Modelling, assembly, and prototype testing
- We will stage drawing sessions to determine a structure for the Ocean Station.
- A “payao”, an indigenous implement used by fisherfolk to attract fish, will be incorporated
- Assembly will be done as a team, after which the device will be tested in the ocean.
into the structure.
Story production
- Stories from community dialogues, materials gathering and the construction of the
- Presentations of the Ocean Station
- The Ocean Station will be presented twice: first in La Union, and then in Manila at the
- The exhibition in La Union will be a community event (with refreshments for celebrating
- The version in Mind Museum will be a participatory exhibit where museum-goers can contribute to the construction of the Ocean Station during the duration of the exhibit. For this, trash will be made available for people to construct with.
station, will be gathered by the organizing team and collaborators during a co-writing session, and finalized into a presentation for the community (and as exhibition material).
Mind Museum.
the creation of the Ocean Station), followed by a moderated dialogue.
