Sea Monster

Cargo ships carrying containerized worlds, endless kilometres of submarine cables, anchors as big as trucks, and sounds loud enough to kill, characterize human presence on the high seas. Akin to sea monsters, the colossal scale and violence of this human presence remains hidden, deep within the ocean, beyond physical and imaginary horizons. Sea Monster is a sound installation in which the ocean’s anthropogenic soundscape can be experienced through the physical act of breath-holding. The project is the product of research into offshore infrastructure, critical oceanography, seafloor mapping, and hydrophone recordings in the Port of Rotterdam. In Gabriele Nasole’s analysis, the concept of the sea monster embodies complex systems such as offshore infrastructure, often too vast to fully comprehend.