Exhibition ”The ocean speaks. New ecologies and new economies of the seas” at Disseny Hub, Barcelona, until February 23, 2025
The exhibition ‘The Ocean Speaks. New ecologies and new economies of the seas’ reflect on how Barcelona and other coastal cities can redesign their relationship with the sea Starting with the situation in the Catalan capital, but adopting a global perspective, the exhibition analyses the challenges and conflicts facing coastal societies in the coming years due to the effects of the climate emergency. Some fifteen local, national and international projects from different fields, such as design, urban planning, architecture and art, depict the effects of human action on the oceans and the beings that inhabit them, propose new approaches to marine ecosystems and reimagine our relationship with them. The exhibition is curated by the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub) artistic director, Jose Luis de Vicente.

The starting point for the exhibition is Barcelona after the 1992 Olympic Games when the city’s seafront became a fundamental feature of the city’s image. However, taking a global perspective, it looks at the challenges and conflicts already being seen (and predicted to become even more prevalent in the medium term) in coastal communities, which are home to 40% of the world’s population and make up a significant proportion of our most valued land. The predicted rise in sea levels, the increasing number of adverse weather events and a growing political will to protect the seabed are forcing us to rethink the relationship coastal cities have with the sea and the creatures that live there, which are often unknown to humans despite the fact that we are inextricably connected to them.

The exhibition shows the effects that human activity has on the marine environment and calls on visitors to approach it with a new outlook, at a key political and environmental moment for the ocean. In June 2025, the French city of Nice will be hosting the UN Ocean Conference where it is hoped that the Global Ocean Treaty will be ratified, a treaty that aims to guarantee the protection of 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
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