Discussion
Can waters sue?

A cross-disciplinary dialogue

Thu, 12.09.2024
1:00 PM - 15:30 Finnish National Theater, Willensauna

The Baltic Sea and other bodies of water: eutrophication, hazardous substances, overfishing, loss of biodiversity, polluted archipelagos, rivers and lakes... Our waters have no borders. How to protect them and us? How about the voice of nature?

The Mar Menor, a highly polluted Lagoon in Murcia, Spain is the first body of water in Europe that has been declared a legal entity in the year 2022, able to sue for its own rights. A discourse that is already advanced in other parts of the world is now spreading into Europe. In more and more countries in Europe and worldwide we see serious discussions around Rights of Nature. For instance, the Dutch parliament voted on a motion to grant the Wadden sea rights. Does a new legal status for bodies of water really provide better ecological protection for them? Or does it create new conflicts of interest? Who gets to represent each body of water and by what methods? Who is the human being who gives nature a voice? Who is talking to whom? Who speaks and who listens?

Questions of representation are as well cultural and social questions and as well a rewarding artistic challenge. It is not surprising that artists, scientists, lawyers and activists are joining forces to explore this ecological-cultural complex and reflect on it in a practical way.

For the panel discussion Can waters sue? Goethe-Institut Finnland invites artists and experts from different disciplines and forms of knowledge such as law, natural science, art, economy, politics and indigenous knowledge to present and to discuss their views. The participants will bring their own questions into the dialogue - exploring and relating different perspectives and understandings of the complex issue, both in theory and practice.

The event will be moderated by Taru Elfving (Director, CAA Contemporary Art Archipelago, Researcher, Centre for Sustainable Ocean Science (SOS, Åbo Akademi University Finland).

Goethe-Institut Finnland thanks the Finnish National Theatre for the collaboration.
 

Speakers:

Taru Elfving, CAA Contemporary Art Archipelago

Taru Elfving is the director and co-founder of CAA Contemporary Art Archipelago. CAA is a curatorial collective supporting transdisciplinary and site-sensitive artistic enquiries at the intersection of ecological, feminist and decolonial practices with a long-term focus on the Baltic Sea region. As a curatorial researcher Elfving is also currently a visiting researcher at the Archipelago Research Institute of Turku University and a researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Ocean Studies at Åbo Akademi University.

Christiane Bosmann
Christiane Bosmann studied museology, art history and communication management. She has over 15 years of experience in curating and developing cultural interventions in the public domain, with a focus on human non-human relationships and ecology since 2019. At the Embassy of the North Sea, she currently functions as Communications and Public Programme Director. She co-produced many cultural projects in the social domain with a specific focus on public engagement at, among others, SKOR | Foundation Art and Public Domain and TAAK cooperative.
 
Jula Zenetti, UFZ- Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research
Jula Zenetti is a lawyer doing her PhD on Rights of Nature at Helmholtz Center for Environmental research in Leipzig, Germany. She analyzes e.g. laws, juridical decisions and current developments in Germany and Spain.

Peter Jaspers, Bergmann
Peter Jaspers advises companies in their investments and transactions in Finland. He has special strengths in supporting construction and engineering projects and aiding companies in public procurement procedures. His law firm Bergmann & Co. works with several companies in the field of renewable energies and issues a number of publications, e.g. on the opportunities of offshore windparks.

Rüdiger Strempel, HELCOM
An international lawyer by education, Rüdiger Strempel has been the Executive Secretary of HELCOM (Helsinki Comission) since 1 August 2019. He looks back on many years of experience of environmental law, policy, and diplomacy at the national and international levels, with a particular focus on international marine conservation. Moreover, Rüdiger has a background as a journalist and professional communicator and he is the author or co-author of numerous articles and several books.

Mari Granström, Origin by Ocean
Mari Granström ist the founder and CEO of Origin by Ocean. She has a PhD in organic chemistry and extensive industrial and management experience with strong focus on go-to-market strategies. Origin by Ocean harvests harmful algae from the sea and uses it to create different products, e.g. in the field of cosmetics or packaging.

Julia Lohmann
Julia Lohmann is a Professor of Practice in Contemporary Design. She investigates and critiques the ethical and material value systems underpinning our relationship with flora and fauna. Julia's research interests include critical practice and transition-design, bio materials, collaborative making, museums and residencies, embodied cognition and practice as research. As designer in residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2013, she established the Department of Seaweed, an interdisciplinary community of practice exploring the marine plant's potential as a design material. She holds a PhD in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art, London. Among countless other projects, she creates sculptures made of seaweed and has been presenting them all over the world, most recent in 2023 at Busan Biennale in South Korea.

Liisa-Rávná Finbog