Manifesta 15 Barcelona: Symphony of the Artificial Reef
General Info
- Location
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Barcelona, Spain
- Commissioned by
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Manifesta 15
- Date
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10/10/2024 – 23/02/2025
- Typology
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Exhibition
- Collaborator
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Juan Pablo Pacheco Bejarano
About
Since the 15th century, various structures have been erected to protect the coast of Barcelona. One of the latest iterations was installed in 2003: five reefs located two kilometers offshore. These artificial environments were created by submerging around three hundred concrete elements at a depth of twenty meters. Over the past two decades, marine life has colonized the reefs, creating a thriving ecosystem and challenging the reductive notion of a nature-culture binary.
The Symphony Of The Artificial Reef
The Institute for Postnatural Studies and Juan Pablo Pacheco Bejarano investigated these infrastructures with the aim of understanding what they can tell us about the future of coastal seabeds. The Symphony of the Artificial Reef is an acoustic exploration of the reef filled that incorporates its many layers: its crackles, the roar of cargo ships, the sonar of survey vessels, and the hum of buried telecommunications cables.
The Symphony of the Artificial Reef invites to engage in deep listening—to attune ourselves to the acoustic ecologies that shape this postnatural seascape: the clicking of reef-dwelling organisms, the thunder of cargo ships, the sonar pulses of survey vessels, and the electric hum of the internet pulsing through submarine cables.
As ocean acidity, temperature, and microplastic pollution continue to rise, what do these materialities and life forms reveal about the future of the seafloor? What new ecologies are taking shape within artificial reefs, where human design and marine life converge and coevolve?
Barcelona’s coastline reefs and Acoustic research
Barcelona’s coastline has been in constant transformation since the 15th century, when the first artificial breakwater was built—laying the foundation for what would become Barceloneta. The developments surrounding the 1992 Olympic Games and the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures accelerated this reshaping, with artificial bays and beaches constructed through breakwaters and submerged dikes. As sea levels rise in the face of climate catastrophe, what will this coastline look like by 2050?
For Manifesta 15, the Symphony unfolded across five flags positioned along the coast, each pointing toward one of the five artificial reefs offshore. Every flag hosted a movement of the symphony, accessible through an interactive QR code. A sixth listening station was located in the open space in front of the Besòs chimneys, where the full symphony could be experienced.
Credits
- With works by
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Binta Diaw, Claudia Pagès, Elmo Vermijs, Embassy of the North Sea, La Casa dels Futurs, Lola Lasurt, Matías Daporta, Eva Chettle, Fanja Bouts, Félix Blume, Jonathas de Andrade, Marie‑Claire Messouma Manlanbien, Masbedo, Nora Ancarola, Radio Slumber, Tanja Smeets, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Carlos Bunga, Diana Policarpo, Diana Scherer, Domènec, Eva Fàbregas, Jokkoo Collective, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Maya Watanabe, Mike Nelson, Niels Albers, OJO Estudio, Rosa Tharrats & Gabriel Ventura, Tornen les esquelles, Ugo Schiavi, Anaïs Florin, Diversorium, Germán Labrador Méndez, Lorenzo Sandoval, Massa Salvatge and Lluc Mayol, Paisanaje, Tania Safura Adam, Institute for Postnatural Studies, Lara Schnitger, Metrópolis, Transductores.
- Photos
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Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana / Ivan Erofeev / Helena Roig
