Our Collective Seabed: Participatory Arts-based Methods for more Equitable Global Ocean Governance

No one can physically experience the deep seabed, which, according to science and law, begins at a depth of 200 meters and can extend as deep as over 10,000 meters; the Mariana Trench, located near Guam, sits at a depth of 10,911 meters. Yet, the United-Nations-mandated body, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is currently deciding the fate of the seabed beyond national jurisdiction by creating a regulatory framework for deep-sea mining (DSM). My project explores the coloniality and exclusiveness of current seabed governance at the ISA and proposes more inclusive and transdisciplinary ways for civil society to get involved through participatory arts-based methods. This work includes active participation in the ISA “in/tangible cultural heritage” working group, and a side event and a three-weeks exhibition, entitled Our Collective Seabed, co-organised with the National Gallery of Jamaica and the Deep Currents Collective. In July 2025, during the ISA Assembly meetings, Our Collective Seabed brought policymakers into the gallery, outside of the ISA’s locked doors and in conversation with artists and activists not allowed in the room. The aim was to challenge the ISA’ colonial procedurality, which reduce the ocean to a datapoint and extractivism to a decarbonisation practice.

Pitt Rivers Museum Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, Michaelmas Term 2026

Fridays, 12pm-1.30pm (Weeks 1-8)

In person at the Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Theatre (entry via Robinson Close) except for Week 5, which will be online only.

Convened by Professor Elizabeth Hallam and Dr Charlotte Linton.