Embassy of the North Sea (Frank Bloem and Harpo 't Hart) – Fieldwork Presentation

Sonic Acts Podcast

Embassy of the North Sea (Frank Bloem and Harpo 't Hart) – Fieldwork Presentation 19 May 2023 – Ruigoord, Amsterdam During their fieldwork presentation for Maritime Frictions, Frank Bloem and Harpo 't Hart observed the port of Amsterdam from a chemical point of view, following their nose and ears to smell and listen to the stories of life in the harbour. Throughout their presentation, the pair interweaved narratives of extractivism and international trade told by biological and fossilised bulk goods with stories of the marine life living on the hulls of cargo ships. Founded in 2018, The Embassy of the North Sea departs from the idea that the North Sea belongs to and should own itself. It researches how nonhumans, from phytoplankton to ship wrecks to cod fish, can become full-fledged members of our society. The Embassy works towards 2030, when we (humans) hope to emotionally, juridically and politically relate ourselves to the sea in a fundamentally different way. Maritime Frictions was a collaborative event organised by Sonic Acts and FieldARTS’ in Ruigoord, west of Amsterdam. The programme included a listening walk with Lance Laoyan, talks by Fred Carter and Charmaine Chua, a performance lecture by Liquid Time (Jacob Bolton and Miriam Matthiessen), a screening of Michaela Büsse’s ‘Building with Nature’ (2022), a sound performance from Velma Spell, and DJ set by Nessim. Explore the more from the programme at https://sonicacts.com/agenda/maritime-frictions Maritime Frictions is a part of New Perspectives for Action, a project by Re-Imagine Europe co-funded by the European Union. CREDITS Curation & production: Sonic Acts Recording: Roman Ermolaev Video editing: Bin Koh Sound mastering: Poul Sven de Haan Sound logo: Roc Jiménez de Cisneros