Interview with Marialena Marouda, Artist in Residence, Kaap
Why the ocean?
I’m drawn to the ocean both personally and professionally. I grew up in Athens, Greece and there the sea is very much part of one’s everyday life and I think also a very relevant part of one’s personality. So the ocean - I feel - is part of who I am as a person. I wanted to see in which way other people felt similar in its proximity.
Also politically, the ocean is very active in what’s happening around the world at the moment, participating in changes like global warming or the so called “refugee crisis”. But it is never addressed as the actor that it is. Within the work of the Oceanographies Institute, I ask how it is possible to make that part of the conversation. “Can I start a conversation with another human being, in which somehow the ocean also takes part?” and “How is it possible to hear the ocean’s 'voice'?”
So I started having “Ocean Conversations” with people that live in proximity to the ocean or the sea. I ask my interlocutors about their relationship to the ocean throughout their lives, and this often gives them another perspective on why they chose their job, or why they chose to live where they do, for example. It’s often a new experience for them to think of the ocean in this way – as a companion.
How do you start these conversations?
It happens quite intuitively. I started having the conversations with some friends in Brussels during the artistic research program I was part of (a.pass). Most of these friends were artists. Because I was also interested in including scientists’ experiences of the ocean, I contacted the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Ostend. I started conversations with some of the scientists there who were interested in the work and involved them in the project. So my interlocutors are either people I get to know personally, or people I research because of their professional relation to the ocean. As the work evolves, my interlocutors also often connect me to other conversation partners. So the network of the Oceanographies Institute’s participants grows rather organically.
I came in contact with KAAP after collaborating with the VLIZ: it was interesting for me to collaborate with an artistic institution in Ostend and to get to know more people in the city.
You were already at Chambres d’O this year.
Yes, I’ve been having try-outs throughout the process, and Chambres d’O was a very positive experience. Our host was a former fisherman and enthusiastic seaman with a wonderful boat. The setting was great, our captain was very supportive, and the audience was very open to the work. We had great feedback from them.
This was very encouraging. Last November, I opened up the work on the Oceanographies Institute to more collaborators: a dramaturg, a composer and two performers. Before performing in Chambres d’O, we all had a three week residency together. So the presentation at Chambres d’O came at a time when the work started to change and evolve.
What’s the plan now?
The premiere is in mid-September. Until then I’m planning some presentations, for example, during Pint of Science in May in Ostend, in collaboration with the VLIZ. We also have a residency in Q-O2 in Brussels, a space for experimental music and sound art, which I am very excited about. We also work at nadine in Brussels, C-Takt in Neerpelt and in Buda Kunstencentrum in Kotrijk. And then next year we come back to Ostend for Dansand!
You’re quite international.
Yes, I was born in Greece, but have lived abroad for many years. I’ve studied in New York, Giessen and Brussels. Before I came to Belgium, I lived in Germany for 10 years and before this in the United States for 4 years.
Why Belgium?
I find the Belgian performance art scene to be one of the most intriguing I’ve encountered. It seems very open to new art forms and art works. I feel that institutions – small and large – and their coordinators, are genuinely interested in what artists do and the formats they develop. Hierarchies are rather flat with also many smaller experimental workspaces being an essential part of the scene, giving it a great diversity. There are all these different people here doing very different kinds of work on a high level. And there’s great solidarity between the artists. That’s very inspiring to see. I really hope it can also continue like this in the future.
We’re happy to have you at KAAP.