Public program during Venice Biennale vernissage week

The public program at TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space aims to look for creative solutions to the most pressing issues facing the ocean today in the hope of creating new transformative and participatory visions for the future, applying TBA21–Academy’s practice of collaboration and disseminating ecological knowledge through cultural programming.

Re-Stor(y)ing Oceania, the 2024 exhibition at Ocean Space curated by Bougainville-born artist Taloi Havini, follows her ancestral rhythms with two new commissions by artist Latai Taumoepeau and architect Elisapeta Hinemoa Heta. Through a call-and-response method, Havini has also invited other artists, curators, writers, community advocates, poets, musicians, and other practitioners to participate in a public program at Ocean Space. These gatherings provide space for exchanges and conversations, including four days of performances, talks, and music held over the vernissage week of the 60th International Venice Biennale (April 16–20, 2024). The program will provide trans-Pacific and cross-cultural exchanges through dynamic conversations, creating a new surge of stories that promote solidarity in these uncertain times and suggest ways of slowing down the clock on extraction, countering it with reverence for the life of the Ocean. 

In conjunction with the exhibition Re-Stor(y)ing Oceania, visitors will also be able to see Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss (2021–2024), a two-part research presentation marking the conclusion of the eponymous research project led by Prof. Ute Meta Bauer at the School of Art, Design and Media at NTU Singapore. Extending connections and conversations seeded during the inaugural cycle of TBA21–Academy’s The Current fellowship program led by Bauer from 2015 to 2018, Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss continues to build archipelagic networks across the Alliance of Small Island Developing States.

In the context of the exhibition program and beyond, TBA21 is glad to partner with various institutions that align with our mission of supporting regenerative ways of living. The exhibition is commissioned together with Artspace, Sydney, produced in partnership with OGR Torino culture and innovation hub, and is under the patronage of the Australian Embassy and the New Zealand Embassy in Rome.

The public program taking place during the opening days of the Venice Biennale will also see events in collaboration with Art Explora; LAS Art Foundation; the Sharjah Art Foundation; the Ukrainian Institute, the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, with the support of Museums for Ukraine; as well as a temporary pop-up bookstore with Mousse Magazine & Publishing, TBA21–Academy’s media partner. Together, these partnerships foster a collaborative environment where dialogue and creativity flourish, contributing to meaningful discussions about our relationship with the Ocean and the environment at large.

All events are accessible until the maximum capacity of the space is reached. No bookings are required. For more information on the events, please visit the TBA21 and Ocean Space websites.

Wednesday, April 17
11am–12:30pm: Sailing Through Storms: Art’s Response to Crisis, a conversation between Lia Dostlieva, Andrii Dostliev, Viktoria Bavykina & Max Gorbatskyi, and Vid Simoniti, moderated by Tetyana Filevska. Follow the plants: Performance by Alevtina Kakhidze. In collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute, the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, with the support of Museums for Ukraine.
3–3:45pm: THIS IS NOT A DRILL, a performance choreographed by Latai Taumoepeau and performed by local sports teams and community groups. 
4–5pm: Deep dive into the Moana, a conversation with Taloi Havini, Latai Taumoepeau, and Markus Reymann.
5–7pm: Native Gaze: Reading Oceania, Day 1, hosted by Sēini “SistaNative” Taumoepeau: readings and reflections, taste-tests and talks, sourcing Oceanic Indigenous knowledges and worldviews.
Pop-up bookstore by Mousse Magazine & Publishing. 

Thursday, April 18  
4pm: Dive even deeper into the Moana, an event on Pacific cosmogonies and marine life on the seabed and the increased global competition in these contested waters with Margarida Mendez & Latai Taumoepeau.
5–7pm: Native Gaze: Reading Oceania, Day 2, hosted by Sēini “SistaNative” Taumoepeau: readings and reflections, taste-tests and talks, sourcing Oceanic Indigenous knowledges and worldviews. 
Pop-up bookstore by Mousse Magazine & Publishing.

Friday, April 19
11am–12:30pm: A conversation between artist Stephanie Comilang, Sharjah Biennial 16 co-curator Amal Khalaf, and curator Chus Martínez, followed by a panel with Sharjah Biennial co-curators Natasha Ginwala, Amal Khalaf, Alia Swastika and Megan Tamati-Quennell. In collaboration with Sharjah Art Foundation.
4–5:30pm: A Polyphony of Repatriations, a conversation about the return of fragile material and ancestral ceremony between Oceanic and African communities with Daniel Browning, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, and Azu Nwagbogu.
Pop-up bookstore by Mousse Magazine & Publishing. 

Saturday, April 20
6:30–11pm: Ocean Evening, an evening of performances, music, discussions, and film screenings with Latai Taumoepeau, Alex Cecchetti, Androula Kafa, Radio Amnion & Josèfa Ntjam, and others, in collaboration with Art Explora and LAS Art Foundation.
Pop-up bookstore by Mousse Magazine & Publishing.