¡vamos, simbiosis! is a project that I co-started in Águilas, a Spanish city and climate hotspot at the Mediterranean in 2022.

International scientists and artists worked together with local citizens and students to experience and understand ocean science and created ideas and artworks inspired by the ocean and climate change.

Approach, Documentary by Tobias Brehmer and Axel Warnstedt, 2022

To work together we applied tools of interdisciplinarity
︎︎︎Symbiosis Studio
︎︎︎Thinking Hands

Successful Anthropocene art projects derived from this approach
︎︎︎The Sea and the City
︎︎︎Los Viejos and the Sea
︎︎︎Rythm of Life
︎︎︎The blue Orange

On the basis of this experience I currently develop further art projects with artists and scientists applying for funding and collaborating institutions.

© Photography: Fabian Gasperl, Vienna

︎︎︎project website

Munich Science Communication Lab Colloquium: Fostering Synergy: Combining Science and Art to Communicate with the Public. (27.11.2023)

MSCL Colloquium: Fostering Synergy: Combining Science and Art to Communicate with the Public.

MSCL Colloquium: Fostering Synergy: Combining Science and Art to Communicate with the Public.

The Sea and the City: Food, Fishery, Science and Locality

Poster series by ︎︎︎Katrin Funcke, Kristina Heldmann and Stefan Michaelsen on interviews with fishermen, citizens and cooks of Águilas, led by Roos Gerritsen and Tanja Granzow, and discussions with scientists

FOOD (9 themes)

1. The art of the kitchen, the smells, that take you somewhere else, your grandmother: that’s art. (Food)

2. My grandmother did the cooking. We were 25 and lived in a small house. I was surprised because when I opened the fridge, it was always empty. But at lunchtime there was always a first course, a second course, a dessert. I don’t know how she did it. (Food)

3. For me it was magic. She didn’t explain anything, but I always watched her. (Food)

4. I couldn’t describe my kitchen without the sea. Impossible. The sea gives me everything. (Food)

5. Can you give me your Facebook…? – No, I don’t have Facebook. – Instagram? – I don’t have it. – Do you have a cell phone with a camera? – No. […] I didn’t like technologies, I liked cooking. (Food)

6. In summer, I was always at the port, at the dock. I grew up there. (Food)

7. The fishermen convinced themselves that bitten fish lost blood in the sea and were therefore tastier. They cooked these for themselves on the boat. (Food)

8. There were only three places I could work: as a diver, in the supermarket or at the restaurant. I ended up in the restaurant. (Food)

9. You have bilge smells, diesel oil and the engine, smell of the deck, from the fish scales, from the wet net of the sea, […]. My father liked Fandango and I like Heavy Metal. (Food)

The food series is based on anthropological interviews with cooks of Águilas at the Mediterranean. The interviews were led by Anthroplogist Roos Gerritsen. She was supported by Javier Espinosa, Angel Vilar Castellar, and Lorena Gutierrez.

FISHERY (8 themes)

1. Fishermen feel that decisions are made based on statistics, and no one listens to their local knowledge and concerns. (Fishery)

2. My boat is named after my grandfather, because he died at sea. (Fishery)

3. And if I were to be born again, again I would become a fisherman. (Fishery)

4. We are friends, very close friends. (Fishery)

5. Most fishermen would describe their relationship with the sea as »amoodio« (a love-hate relationship). (Fishery)

6. No one understands how hard this work is. But instead of acknowledging that, they treat us like delinquents. (Fishery)

7. Every time they go out to sea to fish, it is an adventure with an open end. One never knows. (Fishery)

8. I keep a friendship with the fish. I throw the little ones – which are like babies – back into the sea. (Fishery)

The Fishery series is based on anthropological interviews with fishermen, a historian and an official of Águilas. It describes their attitude towards the sea. The interviews were led by Anthropologist Tanja Granzow. She was supported by Ester Qunitana and Angel Vilar Castellar.

SCIENCE (13 themes)

1. 95% of our oceans remain unexplored. (Science)

2. There are animals out there that do truly astounding things. (Science)

3. Think big! Idea for a Posidonia fan club all around the Mediterranean Sea. (Science)

4. Every summer I bring onto the deck of this little boat of ours more and more things that we know very little about. (Science)

5. Posidonia is able to soak up 15 times more carbon dioxide than a similar sized piece of the Amazon rainforest. (Science)

6. More than half the oxygen we breathe is provided by the ocean. (Science)

7. All life on our planet came from the water. The ocean is the cradle of our existence. (Science)

8. Between 20 – 30% of the species in the Mediterranean only live here – and nowhere else in the world. (Science)

9. Many things that we assume to be exclusive to multicellular organisms are actually already present in unicellular organisms. (Science)

10. Meet your cousin Tritonia Nudibranch! (Science)

11. Meet your cousin Purple-painted Hypselodoris! (Science)

12. The older fish become, the more offspring they can have. (Science)

13. We don’t have to go too deep to reach the unknown. (Science)

The scientific series is based on interviews and TED Talks with scientists. It depicts facts about the and its creatures.

LOCALITIES (3 themes)

What do you love most about Águilas? (Águilas local)

Águilas is a city like many in the Mediterranean. It serves as a model. (Águilas local)

How about gardening? (Águilas local)

The Águilas series states special facts about the city, and the Mediterranean sea, and requests the citizens’ relationship towards the sea.

The 33-pieces edition originated during ¡vamos, simbiosis!, 2022. It relates to marine science and local issues of Águilas, the collaborating Spanish city of the project. It was applied as a campaign on public information boards while a selection was exhibited in an enlarged version (140 cm) on movable walls on the centre square of the city, Plaza de España. The campaign fostered the public dialogue and awareness about man and sea as well as introduced the project.

Prints on moisture resistant paper
Paper edition: 29,7 x 42 cm
© The artists, 2021/22

Los Viejos and the Sea

Reading on stage by ︎︎︎Michael Masula inspired by interviews with fishermen of Águilas, led by ︎︎︎Tanja Granzow

Los Viejos and the Sea was inspired by the research of the anthropologist Tanja Granzow, who interviewed local fishermen. They spoke about their work, family backgrounds, and some severe problems they are facing in a changing environment.

Actor Michael Masula created a text collage based on the fishermen´s statements and excerpts of Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea to weave the stories into a fictional narrative.

On stage, two performers are reading the text collage in the form of a dialogue. They are seated on opposite sides of a table, representing the tensions between different stakeholders in fishery.

Staged public reading, 30 min
Premiere 6.10.2022
First performed in Spanish
Performed by Luz Kaufmann, David Quinche Concept, script and direction Michael Masula
Research Tanja Granzow
Stage design Michael Lehner, Andreas Bergmann
Technical setup Toni Melajoki
Photography Fabian Gasperl
Video Stephanie Guse
© Michael Masula, Tanja Granzow, 2022

Rythm of Life

Dance performance by ︎︎︎Daniela Mühlbauer inspired by marine sciences

Rythm of Life, Excerpt from the Documentary by Tobias Brehmer and Axel Warnstedt, 2022

Rhythm of Life is inspired by the marine world: it stages movements of the ocean and its creatures, such as seaweed, octopuses and swarms of fish. By combining them with Samba dance moves, the choreography also links to the cultural carnival tradition of Águilas.

The dance was accompanied by a specially composed, rhythmic piece of music. The performers wore a costume with colourful patterns and a textile fin on one arm. It represented a fusion of humans and sea creatures. Rhythm of Life was performed on the beach, on studio stages, and at the historical castle of Águilas.

Premiere 6.10.2022
Duration 20 min
Choreography Daniela Mühlbauer
Dancers Benedikt Atakul, Emilia von Bargen, Naima Von Bargen, Renata Baybekova, Juliana Iosif, Jacqueline Joosten, Luz Kaufmann, Vicki Blanco Lucero, Sophie Maurer, Sardor Rakhimov, Andreas Remmel, David Quinche
Vocals ︎︎︎Gisela Klammsteiner
Music Angel Vilar Castellar (percussion), Nander Vilar Castellar (guitar)
Costume Emilia von Bargen
Photography Fabian Gasperl

© Daniela Mühlbauer, Gisela Klammsteiner, Angel Vilar Castellar, Nander Vilar Castellar 2022

The blue Orange

Illustrated book on the relation between humans and the sea and the philosophy of the project ︎︎︎¡vamos, simbiosis!

Concept, illustration and design ︎︎︎Kristina Heldmann, Stefan Michaelsen
Authors Annika Guse, Stephanie Guse, Nikolas Jaspert
Text Michelle Standley (after Platon)
Translation Maria Porciel Crosa, Andreas Hartmann
Languanges German, English and Spanish
Supported by Marsilius Kolleg, Heidelberg University
and the Research Council, Field of Focus 1, Heidelberg University

Heidelberg 2021

© ¡vamos, simbiosis!, the artists and authors

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