BONN.- Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, of which 96.5% is seawater. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call Planet Earth ‘Planet Water’?

The world’s oceans are considered the source of all life on earth. They provide raw materials, energy, food, transport routes and function as a climate machine. The immersive cultural-historical exhibition Expedition to the World’s Oceans not only sheds light on the ‘superficial’ relationship between humans and the sea but also delves into the mysterious depths of the submarine realm. Humans have been using the ocean as a global highway for 4,000 years, so it seems almost paradoxical that today we know more about the surfaces of the moon and Mars than about the world’s oceans, only 5% of whose depths have been explored.

The world’s oceans have always been spaces that fire the imagination, stir longings and fuel fears. By the same token, they have always played a key role in the exchange between peoples and continents: goods, ideas and religions have always travelled by sea. People have crossed the oceans in search of places to settle and the quest for gold, spices and new sources of knowledge, developing connections and networks across the globe in a process of myriad interactions that spanned centuries. Even at the dawn of history, seafaring offered a key to economic and power-political expansion: whoever controlled the seas also had the say on land. The most shameful aspect of this transcontinental quest for power and wealth was the trade in enslaved Africans (15th to 19th century), on the back of whose labour Europe and the United States of America achieved enormous wealth.

The oceans and seas are the largest contiguous habitat on our planet. Because they store large amounts of heat and CO2, they have a significant influence on the weather and the climate. At the same time, climate change is causing serious damage to these bodies of water and their ecosystems. Overfishing, industrial use, high levels of shipping traffic and anthropogenic pollution threaten to destroy the fascinating diversity of the oceans. The designation of international protected areas is of great importance for the preservation of the oceans. These and other measures are set to be enacted in the UN Ocean Decade launched in 2021.

The theme of the world’s oceans can be approached from many different perspectives and angles. By choosing the title Expedition to the World Oceans, we focus on the exciting exploration and investigation of different aspects of maritime worlds and their transformation processes. The exhibition concentrates on three main subjects: The deep sea with its mysterious habitats and fragile ecosystem, the oceans as a contested economic space and foundation of globalisation and, finally, the oceans as a place of longing and a space for the transfer of people and ideas. Contemporary artists thematise the ocean as a metaphorical space and invite visitors to reflect on the cultural effects of global communication and climate change and the endangered beauty of the maritime habitat.

The exhibition focuses on three major themes: the deep sea with its mysterious habitats and fragile ecosystem, the oceans as a contested economic space and the basis of globalisation, and finally the oceans as a place of longing and a space for the transfer of people and ideas. These mysterious realms have always been a source of inspiration for imagination and creativity: alongside original objects from nature, science and technology, historical and contemporary works of art highlight the endangered beauty of marine flora and fauna and encourage reflection on the changing relationship between humans and the sea.

The two immersive stations in the exhibition, The Elevator to the Deep Sea and The Underwater Station, convey the latest scientific findings in a contemporary format. The Elevator to the Deep Sea station immediately brings to mind associations with the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's famous submarine. The elevator was designed as a cabin for several people, whose ‘windows’ consist of large monitors showing original footage of the marine flora and fauna living there on eight ‘floors’. The Underwater Station tells the story of the Endurance, probably the most famous expedition ship in scientific history, with which polar explorer Ernest Shackleton set off on his Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914. The ship sank in 1915 without reaching its destination, and its wreck was only discovered in 2022 at a depth of 3,008 metres – a worldwide sensation. The realistic underwater station provides the starting point for exploring the wreck of the Endurance on the seabed.

A cooperation between the Bundeskunsthalle and GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.