All at Sea, an old English expression used to describe a disoriented state, introduces with a hint of humor the subject of this artistic research project – going to sea to grasp the idea of what the sea stands for by exploring what art can put into motion.
More specifically, the project explores the sea as a reality that art will put into form. A new reality has to be continuously invented by those at sea, while both informing and reforming their memory without any reference points. This challenges the mode of artistic cognition, as it has to operate with a representation of the real that is manifest and free of references.
Artists interpret the world in various manners, both in their methods and objects of research. The sea presents them with an opportunity to implement their respective understandings to form a reality. While everything about the sea is uncertain, there is a certainty that something will occur in one’s artwork, life, and understanding upon returning to shore. The artist then has the opportunity to transform the reconciliation of what they thought they knew before they cut into sea, with the ever-changing reality they were confronted with at sea, into a new reality. The artist will be challenged to create this reality out of the memory one has of the sea.
