Virtual Event: Borders – Forensic Oceanography and the Aesthetics

Forensic Oceanography, co-founded in 2011 by Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani, is a collaborative project that critically investigates the militarized border regime and the politics of migration in the Mediterranean Sea. Their collaborative work has been used as evidence in courts of law, published across different media and academic outlets, as well as exhibited and screened internationally.

In this event, Heller and Pezzani will reflect on Forensic Oceanography’s investigations into the shifting modalities of border violence operating at the EU’s maritime frontiers through an aesthetic lens. They will argue that the policing of illegalised migration by EU states generates distinct conditions of (in)visibility and (in)audibility, but that these are also shaped, transformed, and contested by multiple other actors, such as migrants themselves, NGOs, artists and architects. Through several cases Forensic Oceanography has reconstructed over the last 10 years, Heller and Pezzani will demonstrate that to contest the violence of borders, one must also challenge the boundaries of what can be seen and heard. 

Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani will be joined by moderators Bishnupriya Ghosh (English and Global Studies, UCSB) and Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of this important project.

Please note that this event will not include a screening.