A Language Imbued with Relationships and Care: Sensitive Oceanographies

This exhibition celebrates the complexity and importance of the ocean, its constant adaptation to tectonic energies, and its ongoing negotiation with a heterogeneous spectrum of human and non-human beings to reimagine forms of coexistence in a context of profound ecological, economic, and social changes.

The proposal is the result of a sensitive exploration undertaken by visual artist Karla Herencia in the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. This is a land of contrasts, bordered by estuaries and mangroves as well as a growing influx of tourists. The installation combines a wide variety of media: sounds, videos, sculptures, texts, paintings, found objects, artificial intelligence, photos, and drawings. After establishing protocols, wandering allowed for the collection of traces and marks that, when accumulated, create layers, noises, and a language.

Sensitive Oceanographies is a space for contemplation and sensory connections that invites viewers to lean in, analyze closely, and be enveloped in the same way Karla Herencia has perceived the ocean’s challenges, which she now attempts to decipher through its sounds, rhythms, and movements.

Far more than a mere body of water, the ocean embodies constant encounters, discoveries, and metamorphoses, reconnecting individuals with sensations that are both primal and profound.

Curatorial accompaniment and exhibition curation by Laurent Le Bourhis and Ron Reyes Sevilla