« Art has always been a testbed for a notion of the real » says the first line of the Chronus Art Center’s website introduction (CAC).

Signals by Biarritz-based visual artist Nicolas Sassoon (lives and works in Biarritz, France, and Vancouver) & Brazil-born artist Rick Silva (lives and works in Eugene, Oregon) belonged to the twenty-three works exhibited during the unReal. the Algorithmic Present, « an exhibition that attempts to confront the digital present through the very means of technological intervention both as critical examination as well as alternative prospects. »

Recently exhibited in Anglet at the Georges Pompidou center (France), Silva and Sassoon’s 3 web-based works presented there as large video installations have been conceived as an immersive environment inviting the viewer to question the human footprint on the planet. 

Indeed, through digital processes, the two artists created a series of video works that reflects upon their relationship to their natural surrounding. Through immersive projections, they examine the resulting human alteration on our oceans. Each computer generated video work contrast an ocean view infused with digital effects – digital carpets lying on the ocean floor as well as digital cylinders looking like drilling machines – that simulate a seemingly oily substance reflected on the surface of the water, thus replicating the impending visions of an oil spill in open waters.

The natural liquid environment and computer-generated landscapes are combined to a humming soundtrack suggesting technological presence, creating a contrast between technology and a natural setting.

« My name is Nicolas Sassoon, I’m a visual artist based in Vancouver. My practice revolves mainly around animation and video projection. I’ve always been drawn to a type of imagery, images or artworks that really create that magical moments when you look at them and you are transported somewhere else but you also baffled by how it was possibly made, » explains french-american artist Nicolas Sassoon. « I work with this very simple overlapping of two images. It’s something that’s really close to analog animation in a way. I don’t use coding, I don’t use programming, I do everything by hand. I stretch things, I change the speed, motion, and through these experimentations, I reach a result that I find to be a good result. »

Produced by pairing complementary fields of research in computer imaging, each video work « bring to life a simulated ecological ruin as a gesture of contemplation towards an environment subject to perpetual human alteration. » About nature, Nicolas Sassoon says: « Nurturing hobbies is really key to me to keep a curious mind. Working on the garden, weeding, planning stuff, doing anything that involves taking care of the garden, is super grounding. It’s a nice complement to being in front of a laptop ten hours a day. »

Silva and Sassoon’s mutual contemporary project entitled Signals have been exhibited across the world, from Dublin (Ireland), Toronto & Vancouver (Canada), Berkeley (USA), Biarritz (France), Shangai (China), Belgrade (Serbia), Basel (Switzerland), among other places.

Discover Nicolas Sassoon and Rick Silva‘s works.

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At number 50 Avenida de Navarra, behind the large windows of the San Sebastian-based Blue Factory, Dani Garreton draws at her desk, reminding the visitors her enthusiasm to paint daily. On one of the sunny days of an endless Spring season, the Chilean artist receives me with smiles, folk music blasting out and her adorable little Shiba Inu laid on a pillow.

When we enter the former abandoned building converted into a high ceiling creative space, we are struck by an inimitable fascination for the blue color. Seafarers, surfers, seagulls and fish canvas sit near windows that touch the ceiling. A penchant for the ocean is clearly visible through the Chilean artist’s work who finds »all sea creatures so fascinating«. Stuffed full with wooden planks, watercolor paint sets, drawings on paper, buckets of pencils and brushes, Dani’s studio is an opportunity to better understand her innate creativity.

As a youngster, Dani left Chile for Europe. A few years later, she settled down in the Basque Country where she enjoys every single piece of surrounding nature. »Nature is my first love,« she says. »It helps me keep my sanity.« As we discuss  her childhood in Chile, her attachment to the Panthalassa Society family and desire to raise awareness through art, Daniela reminds us that the ocean is what keeps her creatively moving forward. »Using my art as a message for a more conscious living. Expressing myself and finding that freedom I had as a child.«

Let’s get started. Can you begin by telling us how you would define yourself?

I was born in Chile, a very long country with more than 4000 km of coasts. From an early age, I was influenced by the sea. I still remember those endless summers at the beach with my little sister, collecting shells, building fantastic worlds in the sand, swimming and just having this feeling of total freedom. I grew up in a very creative family and we were always pushed to express ourselves through art.

How has your approach to drawing and painting developed over the years?

I think there is this rollercoaster with drawing and painting through the years. When you’re a kid, the creative process is very organic and intuitive. It’s purely about feelings and emotions. A splash of color, some crazy lines and suddenly you have a giraffe! Everything is allowed. When you approach the teenage years, you become more perfectionist, you try to draw realistic, you want to learn to draw and paint as perfect as possible and finally get the perfect technique. Then the challenge is to unlearn all this and find the freedom you had as a kid. Be able to let yourself go and not be obsessed with getting the perfect result but the closest to your real emotion. Feed that confidence you had as a kid. As Picasso said “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

Based in San-Sebastian today, you tend to immerse yourself in nature. Can you tell us a bit about your daily routine?

Nature is my first love. It helps me keep my sanity. First thing I do in the morning is kiss and pet my dog, then same to my man. Then we go for a walk with my pup, I breathe, I admire the ocean, and we walk to the Blue Factory where I have my studio. I never take the car in the city, I walk or ride my bike. Being able to get to your workplace without the need of a car or public transport is a major privilege. You get to work with such a good mood. In  the evening, we take a long stroll in the beach with my pup and if the sea is gentle, I go for a surf or swim.

What does the ocean mean to you?

The ocean is life. Its change. Its constant movement. It teaches you so much. It really forces you to be in the present moment, be aware and in synch with nature’s rhythm. Life starts floating in amniotic fluid, which has a similar composition to ocean water, so I feel we have this very primitive connection to the sea.

A penchant for the ocean is clearly revealed through your work since you depict water, capture seafarers, surfers, seagulls and fish on your canvas. What kind of sea creatures or ocean-related characters do you find particularly inspiring?

I find all sea creatures so fascinating. After I read the book DEEP I became so fascinated by whales and how the communicate. It’s out of this world.

Panthalassa translates the ocean into stories with powerful voices. Today, you’re one of them appearing as a major member of the Panthalassa Society. Can you tell us more about this collaboration?

Panthalassa embodies all the love and respect I feel for the ocean. I have been a part of the Panthalassa society since the beginning and it’s like a family. We are all driven by the same force of blue love so it’s really a perfect match for me to collaborate with them.

Today, through your work, you bring awareness to some environmental issues. You’ve been part of numerous projects like the recent “Stop Sucking: Say not to plastic straws!” campaign, reminding us that 500 million plastic straws are used every single day in the US today. According to you, do you use your creativity as a tool for climate action?

I think communicating through art is such a powerful tool, art knows no language, it speaks to the emotions so you feel touched and want to be a part of the solution. As individuals, we all have a responsibility to support a good cause we feel close to our hearts. First hand, I see how plastic pollution is destroying our oceans, how climate change is killing entire ecosystems so I do whaterver I can to help.

Do you have a favorite artwork so far?

Probably one of the first fisherman I ever draw that was inspired by Jacques Cousteau, named “Jacques”. I hold that one dearly because it really opened some kind of doors I had locked inside.

Earlier this year, you set your studio in the Panthalassa’s Blue Factory in San Sebastian, an interdisciplinary place, crossroad of the Panthalassa Society. Can you pay us a visit?

I used to work from home and was pretty much like a lone wolf. I had convinced myself the life of an artist was that of solitude. After a few years, it really started messing with my head and I found harder and harder to draw the border between work life and home life. Having my own studio is the best feeling in the world. Having my own space is sacred. I cannot wait for Mondays because I love coming to the Blue Factory so much. It has such a nice vibe, you can breathe creativity, you can smell the ocean. Since we opened it, a lot of people just knock at the door and come in. We’ve had people visiting from all over the world and it has this awesome sinergy going on.

Looking to the future, what can we look forward to coming up with you?

I am working on some collaborations and a future exhibition next summer at the Blue Factory Gallery.

Discover more of Dani Garreton’s work on her website.

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There is a piece of boat in the middle of the room, a car bonnet in a corner, a motorcycle gaz tank, some wooden and steel boards, crumpled maps and pieces of plastic. »I’ve always been strongly influenced by car culture and the nautical world. I usually work with objects that had a first life, generally objects from the 70s.«

In his Saint-Chamond- 270m2 workshop, French artist Maxime Lamarche piles up objects, combines genres and mixes inspirations. »I like this kind of items that embody the fantasy of a whole generation. I modify them, hybridize them and combine them. My final goals is to modify their primary function and be able to give them a second life through an art quest.«

As shown in the »Austin’s Island« art installation, Maxime Lamarche questions the duration of our illusions and fantasies. »The boat-mountain« is installed on two feet, reminding the base used for models, and giving the feeling that the boat became useless for most of practical purposes.« Defined as a hybrid between a speed boat – a Fletcher 155 Arrowsport – and a resin model of a mountain, the two elements combined reveal a different myth.

The french artist constantly explores the confrontation between a moving object, like cars and boats, and an unchanging landscape. »In my work, there is the recurring fact of reusing symbolic objects from the leisure culture that developed itself during the Glorious Thirty until 1973,« Maxime says. »We’ve seen boats, motorcycles and cars running through this last century. Whether it be the Stock Market crash of 1929 or the 2008 crisis, this »leisure society« carries the powerful notion of crisis.«

Sometimes exaggerated to the point of absurdity, Lamarche’s art explorations are able to perform into the real world and meet people’s reactions. »Submerged, emerged or drowning sculptures… we never know if these objects are eventually victorious or not.«

Follow Maxime Lamarche’s work on his website.

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The Plastic Family left their coastal landscape for a while and made the trip to the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. Initiated by Surfrider Foundation Europe, the action day was meant to draw attention on the global crisis of plastic pollution. »The Plastic Family has been much appreciated by our volunteers and gave us a real visibility among passers by,« says Charléric Bailly, SFE event manager. »A real success for this event!«

The estimated 19 billion pounds of plastic that end up in the ocean every year are expected to double by 2025. »The clock is ticking and we call on the European Parliament to take action now!⁣« says the foundation. 

For the occasion, 80 Surfrider Foundation Europe volunteers present that day collected more than 7000 cigarette butts in Place Lux, Brussels, outside the European Parliament. They also created a giant bottle made out of plastic bottles to emphasize on the amount of plastic trash dumped into the sea everyday. »Every year, we organize an official gathering with our European volunteers during a weekend of exchanges and discussions. They’re what we wall the Chapters Days,« says Charléric. »This year, we were approximately 80 including volunteers and SFE staff members. In view of the next european elections scheduled to occur in 2019, we chose to meet in Brussels in order to question the european deputies.«

Today, more than 8 million tons of plastic are found in our oceans every year. Whether it has deliberately been dumped or lost by accident, human-created waste represents the majority of the marine pollution, also called marine debris or marine trash, affecting the health of wildlife and humans themselves. »That’s why te event consisted in meeting up on Luxembourg Square in front of the European Parliament, while exhibiting art installations made out of plastic trash. We are convinced that art is a powerful tool to seduce people toward an environmental cause,« explains Charléric. »We organized a cleanup of the square and collected more than 7,600 butts of cigarettes in just an hour.« 

According to the Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the U.S. in 2014, compared to 3.8 billion plastic water bottles sold in 1996. It means 315 bottles per person, 57% of those units were plastic water bottles. A threatening and terrible fact that we could avoid by slowing down our disposable lifestyle, refusing single-use plastics (plastic straws, plastic bag, plastic bottles, …) and using more sustainable containers.  

Today, we need to make global efforts to end plastic pollution. As mentioned by the Plastic Family, »we are the source but you can be part of the ocean.«  Follow their journey on Surfrider Foundation Europe.

Photos: Lucie Lucie Francini / Surfrider Foundation Europe

The Plastic Family has been made out of plastic trash found on the beaches of the Basque Country (Spain & France) by Panthalassa Society members Rebecca Kudela (Sea and Gather), Daniela Garreton and Panthalassa founder Sergio Penzo

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Diving with these magnificent predators is a privilege and offers incredible photographic opportunities to witness the symbiosis with pilotfish.

This year’s competition saw over 5,000 entries from underwater photographers coming from around the world. Tobias Friedrich’s stunning “Cycle War”, portraying a wreckage of World War II motorcycles and supply trucks, stood out from the crowd, and allowed him to take home the grand prize. Named Underwater Photographer of the Year, German photographer Tobias Friedrich is one of the thousands of photographers from around the world to have participated in the 2018 contest.  

Snapped inside the cargo hold of the SS Thistlegorm, a British Merchant Navy ship, the stunning picture is like a glimpse back in time. “I had had this image in mind for a few years, but it is impossible to capture in one photo, because there is not space inside the wreck to photograph this scene in a single frame,” explains Friedrich. “My solution was take a series pictures and stitch them together as a panorama.”

Tobias Friedrich – Cycle War

Affectionate swans and a curious otter in Scotland, humpback whales in blue waters, migrations of thousands of mobula rays along the coast of Baja, California, remarkable wrecks off the coast of Egypt, seawater crocodiles in Cuba, a large cave system in Yucatan, Mexico, whales in Tonga… Each picture is a story to be told. 

»In recent years, oceanic whitetip sharks have become rarer in the Red Sea but they are back around the offshore reefs of Egypt,« said French photographer Greg Lecoeur, which won third place in the British Waters Wide Angle category. »Diving with these magnificent predators is a privilege and offers incredible photographic opportunities to witness the symbiosis with pilotfish. Curious, confident, and inquisitive, they do not hesitate to approach the divers and I was able to capture this image on our decompression stop.«

In collaboration with Underwater Photography Magazine, the UPY team have created a Yearbook, bringing together 2018’s winning images, their back-stories, and judges’ comments.

Tobias Friedrich – Breathtaking

Filippo Borghi – Morning Flight

Scott Gutsy Tuason – In Hiding

Borut Furlan – Crocodile Reflections

Jacob Degee – The Hammer

Rodney Bursiel – The Talk

Will Clark – Basking Shark Feeding.

Discover all the awarded submissions online.

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March 6th, 2014. 72 degrees south, speed 5 knots, -28 or less degrees celsius with wind chill.

By Nico Edwards.

It is dark and stormy, with snow blowing straight at us and we are driving blindly into pack ice. The waves seem to be growing dramatically every minute. The guy at the bow is shouting instructions and warnings back to another guy at the halfway mark, who runs across the icy deck towards the helm to tell us to go “hard to starboard!” Just as we begin turning, we see a piece of ice the size of a school bus passing along our port side, grinding along the hull as it goes. Lots of warning….and to top that off, we have to motor ahead at 3+ knots if we even remotely hope to be able to control the direction of the boat. Infinity weighs 160 tons, so even going slow it takes forever to stop. Slamming into an iceberg is like slamming into solid stone, at any speed something has to give, and it’s not likely to be the stone. The quantity of ice in the surrounding water is increasing rapidly, along with the size. Andy, our Scottish watch leader, keeps adding speed, as we lose the ability to hold course. All the while massive chunks slide past on either side. In this sobering atmosphere, Andy starts talking about “real adventure” and how hard it is to find these days.

Having lived on the high seas for the last 20 odd years, I can’t think of anyone I would rather have leading this madness then Capt. Clem. Though as he gets to the helm, even he seems a bit unnerved by the situation. “Why didn’t anyone get me fucking sooner! …I can’t hear you clearly! None of this American nuzzle buzzle. There’s a solid wall of pack ice dead ahead! Can’t you see that! That’s not water, that’s ice!” The full force of the storm has yet to arrive and we’re still 30 miles off from our intended anchorage.

As I make my way on deck the next day, I find the situation has deteriorated further. Our Canadian Electrician, David Bowie (real name) is at the bow screaming back to the helm “hard to port!” Just as a real hull cruncher passes with not much more than two feet to spare. All around us is thick pancake ice and off in the distance is a sheer wall of pack ice that we seem to be heading directly for. We soon discover that the anchorage area is socked in with ice and we have no place that is protected to anchor. It is at this point that the full force of the storm arrives. Not the 20 knot peripheral system we were hoping for at this latitude, but an 80+ knot force 12 hurricane of ice with wind gusts exceeding 160 kpm. We have no choice but to ride it out on the open ocean, but we have to quickly get away from the large fields of ice.  

It is so cold that ocean spray turns to shards of ice before it hits the deck. The waves have grown to mountains of water exceeding 18 meters tall from trough to crest. An interesting site few of us have ever seen, they are breaking on themselves in the open ocean, as if they were being pushed up by a reef or the shore. Going on watch is a sobering experience. It’s less of an active navigating experience and more of what one crew member termed “riding space mountain for three hours”.

It’s so cold, that our diesel has begun to freeze in the tanks, and from the white smoke the engine is emitting, we suspect our fuel is contaminated with seawater. We are not sure how the water made its way into our tanks, but our engine is cutting in and out and were losing fuel injectors we have no replacements for. 

To make matters worse, the waves crashing onto the bow are so strong they have bent back the steel anchor plate, allowing water into the forward anchor locker. Infinity has taken on so much water, her bow is riding noticeable lower in the water, and she’s digging ever deeper into the waves.

The engine throttled up full, we are lurching in horrible, skyward-thrusting, gut-wrenching circles. Due to the power of the wind though, we seem to be going backwards. We have to harness ourselves in and bear-hug something solid, or we’ll be ripped off the helm. If we go overboard, we’ll be dead before the person next to us realizes we are gone. 

Every couple of hours, we are forced to shut off the engine so we can clean out the rapidly clogging fuel filter. It is during one of these cleanings, the boat drifting at the mercy of the wind and waves, giant mountains of white capped waves cresting and breaking on and around us, that we spot a large iceberg, directly in the path the waves are taking us.  Fuel filter quickly back in place, and we are trying to restart the engine, before we get dashed against the ice. The starter turns and turns, but the engine refuses to catch. For what feels like forever, it just turns, straining the battery. It is in this moment, that we feel the most alive. This is what we are truly after. As we hang on for our lives, in the middle of the most dramatic storm we have ever seen, with front row seats to one of the greatest natural spectacles on earth, we have collectively reached a state of transcendent ecstasy. We’re in a giant universe of forces that are out of our control and we’re feeling very small. 

The engine catches and we apply the throttle, holding our breaths as the boat slowly increases the distance between us and the berg. We will ride space mountain for two days.

Follow their adventures online.

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Zaria Forman is one of the most inspiring artists we’ve had the opportunity to meet. Two years ago, we exhibited one of her large piece of art in Guéthary, France, in presence of the artist. Throughout a collective exhibition, we had the chance to celebrate the official inauguration of Panthalassa and introduce the Panthalassa Society, our global network of contributors. Since that day, Panthalassa is deeply attached to the evolution of Zaria’s work, always using creativity as a tool for climate action. Her work keeps on revealing untold stories and embody the power of art. Last year, in another attempt to create awareness around climate change, Zaria Forman accepted NASA’s invitation to take part to their IceBridge operation, which for the last decade has been mapping the geometry of the ice at both Poles. »I travel to the Polar regions to capture the unfolding story of ice melt. My images overflow with details to draw the viewer in, and transport them. These landscapes are fairly inaccessible, so their environmental issues may seem remote or abstract. I work on a large scale to recreate the wonder of witnessing an iceberg up close.«

In 2016, Zaria Forman spent a total of 70 hours in the air, over 26,000 miles flying over Patagonia from Santiago to Punta Arenas, Chile. She witnessed Antarctica’s vastness and reached some of the most difficult places to get to on earth, like Hull Glacier on the Ruppert Coast. She came back with thousand of pictures where cracks and giant crevices are visible, symbol of complex and rapid change occurring just beneath the surface, like fast moving ice. Once again, Zaria used her large scale drawings as records of landscapes in motion in order to bring awareness to ice melting. We called the artist to know more about her latest body of work and her new adventure around the globe. Here’s the story.

»I fell in love with remote landscapes at an early age. My mother, a fine art landscape photographer, led the family on expeditions to the most far flung places she could find. I developed an appreciation for the beauty and vastness of the ever-changing sky and sea. I loved watching a far-off storm on the western desert plains, the monsoon rains of southern India, and the cold arctic light illuminating Greenland’s waters. These travels cemented my fascination with water in all its forms. My first trip to the Arctic in 2007 opened my eyes to the severity of the climate crisis, which has been the focus of my work ever since.  

I flew on several 12 hour flights, soaring just 1,500 feet above glaciers, sea ice, and mountaintops in Antarctica and the Arctic. While the science team operated a complex suite of instruments, I observed an entirely new perspective of ice, which has been the focus of my work for six years.

The data collected on IceBridge missions provides crucial information about how ice loss is occurring, and what these changes mean for sea level rise. Findings from the project are alarming, and yet our global community is not responding with appropriate urgency.

Behavioral psychology tells us that we take action and make decisions based on our emotions. Art has a special ability to tap into emotions. My latest body of work, »Aerial Ice,« will be a series of large scale drawings inspired by my flights with NASA, offering viewers a perspective of polar ice that few people have witnessed. The drawings will help communicate IceBridge’s findings, translating scientific data into an accessible medium that resonates emotionally.

Ice as a subject matter continues to excite me. An entirely new visual vocabulary of ice was revealed to me from the air; surfaces, fissures, and crevasses I had never seen before. I am eager to discover how to render these new shapes and textures in soft pastel. A plethora of geometric patterns take shape in the ice when seen from above, encouraging me to explore compositions unlike anything I’ve ever before considered.«

Zaria Forman will exhibit at Pulse Art Fair in Miami this December 7-10, 2017.

Follow her work on her website.

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« Where everything happens at the touch of a button and requires a computer science degree to understand and repair, Infinity’s working parts are manual, simple, laborious, greasy and somewhat comprehensible. » 36,7 meters-long, Infinity have properties that make it exceptional for a polar vessel. We met Northern California-based director and filmmaker Nico Edwards, author of ‘Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World’, his first feature. The movie seeks to tell the ambitious journey of a group of modern seafaring gypsies across the Pacific Ocean. « Captain Clemens Gabriel has transformed Infinity into a sea tribe, comprised of crew from all over the world» he said. « Water, trees, dusk, mountains, sunrise and dramatically bad weather are some of the strongest catalysts for awe. So along with extreme pest control, the voyage is a quest for awe, and for the sheer joy of it. » So, please, get onboard this hand-built sailboat described as a ‘bunker that floats’…

Tell us a bit about Infinity, an environmentally friendly hand-built sailboat… 

Though by all outward appearance, these voyages appear to be exercises in reckless abandon, and while it is true that infinity was not designed to travel through ice, Infinity is an incredibly tough boat made of ferrocement. She was constructed in 1977 in Oakland CA, and is believed to be the largest ferrocement yacht ever built, meaning she’s made of metal reinforced concrete and is basically a bunker that floats. Ferrocement, a well tested and long practiced form of boat construction, no longer in fashion due to its downsides of being extremely labor intensive during construction and heavy compared to fiberglass or aluminum, does have properties that make it exceptional for a polar vessel, such as incredible toughness, impact resistance and strength in any temperature. In the Ross Sea, Infinity made impact with a large number of icebergs without so much as a scratch. Infinity is also very green, as her sails are recycled from super yachts, and sowed up to fit. She also has a very large solar array, which provides for all her electrical needs as well. Right now, she is also a vegan ship, trying her utmost to source all foods locally.

Sailors, a captain, an electrician, a carpenter, and filmmakers… Most of you are, above all, adventurers with a taste for the extreme…

Infinity seems to be a magnet for those who just don’t fit in anywhere in particular, mainstream societies cast offs. A rotating group of wanderers, they come together on Infinity as a sort of ocean going tribe, then they head off across the globe to earn a living for a while doing various things. We have carpenters, surveyors, electricians, professional sailors, and even a former NASA rocket scientist, but they always seem to return to Infinity just as soon as they are able. 

When did you first have the -crazy- idea of the « Sea Gypsies » project? 

In 2011, well ensconced in a little padded gray cubicle, in a nondescript office park on the side of a generic highway in Silicon Valley, I was growing grim about the mouth. The 3 hour-commute and job that would most likely be replaced by an algorithm in a few years was not providing much in the way of stimulation. So one day, I took stock of the situation, and having nothing in particular to interest me on shore, I decided I would sail about a little and see the watery parts of the world.

Before I left, I did the first thing that anyone nowadays would do… I googled my options. This led me to a website called FindACrew.org, which connects crew looking for boats, to boats looking for crew. Opportunities abound for all skill levels, from landlubbers to salty sea dogs. This is how I came across Infinity. I was looking to learn to sail and she looked like a learning boat. By this I mean, that unlike the more modern, technologically advanced sailboats of our day, where everything happens at the touch of a button and requires a computer science degree to understand and repair, Infinity’s working parts are manual, simple, laborious, greasy and somewhat comprehensible. 

I joined the boat in Singapore in early 2012 and we sailed through the Malacca Straight into Malaysia, all the way up to the Andaman coast of Thailand. This was probably the most memorable 5 months of my almost 30 years of life. The time machine slowed to a crawl as it gorged on the abundant unknown. Roughly a year after leaving the boat, I was back in the US, plugging along, when out of the blue one night I get a call from Captain Clem. He says the boat is infested with tropical termites he can’t get rid of, and he heard that if he dropped the temp of the boat below freezing for 3 days it would serve as an environmentally friendly, yet extreme form of pest control. To get the boat below freezing for such a long time, he had it in his mind to make a pacific crossing from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a visit to Antarctica, and wanted to know if I might like to join in and video the experience. The decision seemed brash, as he intended to start the 15,000 mile voyage in “a couple of days”. I quickly agreed to go, and informed him I would join the boat as soon as I had sold my possessions and put my affairs in order.

The plan had more than a touch of madness to it, due to Infinity not being at all designed or equipped with cold weather in mind. I was pretty sure Infinity did not have any heaters, insulation, nor did the main saloon have a door to keep the outside, outside. I looked at an atlas and tallied up my frequent flier miles (hard earned through years of signing up for credit cards solely for the bonus miles) and schemed up a way to meet the boat in route. A couple weeks later and I would be rejoining Infinity on the island of Trukk, in The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Our path would lead south-ish, meandering down the international date line, to New Zealand before heading east. It would cover over 15,000 nautical miles and was expected to take roughly 10 months.

You’re currently travelling on 8,000 miles across the Pacific ocean, from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica. What are your motivations, intentions, and goals?Just « for the sheer joy of it »?

Awe has the power to diminish the emphasis on the individual self, encouraging people to forgo strict self-interest, to work towards improving the world around them. Research conducted in the 1960’s on awe or transcendent ecstasy found that the most common triggers come from nature. Water, trees, dusk, mountains, sunrise and dramatically bad weather are some of the strongest catalysts for awe. So along with extreme pest control, the voyage is a quest for awe, and for the sheer joy of it. 

How is life organized onboard? Does everyone has duties and a daily schedule?

Though perpetually exploring, daily life onboard consists mainly of sailing and maintaining the boat and crew. The rhythm of life onboard reflects the necessities of a sailing vessel. Cleaning the boat, navigating an approximate course, raising sails, keeping the boat clean, maintaining an approximate course, oiling, greasing, scraping, scrubbing, disinfecting, cleaning, lowering sails, killing bugs, and of course… cleaning. Crew join up with every level of skill, and the experience they gain depends on what they seek from their time aboard. Some join up with the intention of becoming professional sailors or some already are and just want a change of pace. Everyone contributes, everyone learns something, and yes, lots and lots of work, mostly in schedules. 

« What can be found in abundance on board is blood, sweat, enthusiasm, risk tolerance, disdain for authority, and an ample supply of alcohol,» says the voiceover of your film entitled « Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of The World ». Does it sum up your balance onboard?

Pretty much, its a whole lot of work just to keep it going. A boat is a delicate structure of rapidly decaying materials, floating atop and constantly being bathed/marinated in, a caustic brine of destruction. They are holes in the water in which people throw money in, never to be seen again. Unless you’re really hardworking and crafty, up to but not necessarily over the point of conniving, a boat owner can expect to part with upwards of 10% of their boats value per year in upkeep costs. To avoid the constant shelling out of cash, one has to do all the work oneself… or have volunteers/suckers do it. This voyage being no exception, Clem maximizes the blood sweat and toil of his crew. 

The movie tells the ambitious journey of a group of modern seafaring gypsies across the Pacific Ocean. Were you prepared to the level of adrenaline you’ve been experiencing? 

I think for the most part people were prepared for a lot, but the massive hurricane of ice in the Ross Sea was a whole lot more than we expected and we’re pretty lucky to be alive in all honesty. I think if we did the trip 3 times, one of those times we would not have made it… at least. When help is 3 weeks or more away, you hope that you just die as quick and painlessly as possible. When you’re alone at sea, you feel like anything and everything is possible. It’s also a lot like groundhog day when you don’t see land for months at a time, you start to think you might be trapped in purgatory. 

What’s next now?

I head back to the boat in one months time, and we plan on heading North, attempting to sail further north than anyone in history. Following the two warmest Arctic summers on record, the sailing vessel Infinity will tackle the formidable Northwest Passage, attempt to reach the Northernmost inhabited settlement on the planet, aptly named Alert. More than just breaking a record, reaching this normally icebound settlement at the tip of Ellesmere Island, will be a stark warning to the world. To reach Alert at 82° latitude, Infinity will traverse through Nares Strait, a narrow channel of fierce currents and rapidly moving mountains of ice at the height of summer. Along the way, the ship and crew will battle severe storms, avoid marauding icebergs and hungry polar bears, and explore a part of the world that is rarely seen. This is the most dangerous maritime route in the world; more people have been to the top of Mt Everest than have successfully taken a sailing vessel through the Northwest Passage, and no one has ever sailed this far north. The full route will be over 15,000 miles and take 10 months from Tonga to Greenland. The expedition begins Nov 2017.

Follow their adventure online.

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Michaela Skovranova used to be terrified of deep water. Born in Slovakia, the talented photographer decided that she could fight her fear by exploring under the surface. And her shots are breathtaking.

A young calf breaching, humpback babies, a family of seals or sharks. Based in Australia, filmmaker, photographer and director Michaela Skovranova captures a mysterious world, revealing a sense of peace, and encouraging others to explore the seas. »Her images are dripping with emotion, drama and a certain respect for the duality between beauty and raw power that exists in the ocean and nature,« rightly says the description on her website. 

Discover her work on her website.

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8 million tons of plastic garbage end up in the oceans each year, killing 1 million sea birds. That’s a reality. “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex is a gyre of marine debris in the central North Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1997 by Captain Charles Moore, the massive dump of floating garbage is hard to accurately measure but is said to be twice the size of France. Two advertising creatives came up with the idea of imagining the « Trash Isles » as an official country recognised by the United Nations.

Thought up by ad creatives Michael Hughes and Dalatando Almeida, the campaign has been designed to raise awareness of climate change and pollution. Today, the campaign even has its own flag, passports, official stamps and a currency, “Debris,” designed by Mario Kerkstra and made of 20, 50 and 100-banknotes featuring whales, turtles and seals brutalized by floating trash. « We wanted to come up with a way to ensure world leaders can’t ignore it anymore, a way to stick it under their noses, literally, » say Hughes and Almeida to Creative Review.

Titled « Trash Isles », the campaign got the support of big names like Judi Dench, Mo Farah, The Plastic Oceans Foundation and publisher LADBible. The two partner organizations recently co-signed a letter sent to the United Nations requesting the recognition of the trash island as nation state in order to oblige other countries to clean it up under the UN’s Environmental Charter. 

As the country’s first citizen, former U.S vice president and environmental activist Al Gore made his first declaration : « We don’t want anymore plastic added so let’s come up with biodegradable materials instead of this junk. We’ll also have a price on carbon which will also affect the economic attractiveness of plastic, » he said. « 50 billion tons over the last 60 years, it’s completely aberrant. Plastic adds to the climate process, and, of course, it’s absolutely harming the oceans and some of them shows up in the fish that people eat now. It’s disgusting. The oceans are crucial to our survival and we need to protect them. »

As another trash island bigger than Mexico has been found in Pacific in July of this year, with microscopic plastic, resembling confetti floating off the coast of Chile and Peru, it’s more than ever important to get people to pay more attention to this rapidly growing issue. 

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