Deepwater Currents was commissioned by CIRCUIT with the support of Creative New Zealand as part of Sovereign Pacific / Pacific Sovereigns, the 2020 programme of artist cinema commissions curated by Singapore-based academic and curator David Teh.
“Ocean currents arriving at Te Piha in Aotearoa have been circulating in waters elsewhere, prior to emerging and leaving again in its renowned rips and sea-floor channels. The non-linear digital video grapples with formations and journeys of ocean currents as well as language traces from political or territorial claims in Tangaroa’s domain… seabed mining permit applications, seafloor mapping, offshore oceanographic buoy measurements, global-tech, the blue economy and surfing… A winter of videography of sea-states of Ngā Tai Whakatū ā Kupe (1) is combined with a winter swell season at Mullach Mór, Éire (2) including during a record-breaking ocean storm. These vastly distant coasts are linked in the global ocean circulation of the thermohaline—currents that complete a journey of the oceans of the world in a cycle of around 1000 years. Waves, sea mists and deeper ocean currents, move onwards—unquiet.”
(1) The upraised seas of Kupe, Tasman Sea, Aotearoa—New Zealand
(2) Mullaghmore, Ireland
