Marine Mediums

"Who controls the sea, rules the world" - Hayreddin Barbarossa (Admiral of the Ottoman Navy)

For many people, the ocean is an obstacle; it is a barrier separating mankind, restricting each to their own respective continent and making it a challenge to forge connections across borders. Yet, reality proves that these vast waters do quite the opposite, serving as a channel for the exchange of ideas, goods, and power critical to the formulation of shared experiences between people on all parts of the globe. Whether or not we are aware of it, the oceans affect every human life, flooding them with both positive and negative ripple effects.

This exhibition explores the ocean’s role as a medium for communication, human violence, and material goods— and the critical part played by port cities in fostering this exchange. From telegraphic messages to forced migration to cargo, the waves of the sea carry more than just water, serving as vehicles of mankind’s greatest innovations and worst abuses both past and present. Through a series of paintings, objects, and artistic installations, our exhibition will allow you to sail the world, seeing the impact that Earth’s waters have had on humans throughout history.

By diving into our site, you will discover the ocean’s multifaceted nature, which is at times beautiful and obliging in human innovation, and at others dangerously complicit in violent crimes. As the morning sunlight glistens on the water’s surface, take a moment to see your own reflection in the context of the ocean as a medium. Perhaps your cultural identity is a product of generations of migration across the sea, or you feel an urgency to raise awareness about the role of slavery in creating modern societies?

Whatever your connection to our oceans, may this experience be an opportunity for contemplation, allowing you to recognize your inherent personal relationship with our deep blue sea.

Communication

Across the open sea, communication has evolved to travel faster and faster. This section explores how the ocean became a medium for human connection, carrying not only goods but also ideas and information across large distances.

Simon de Vlieger, A Naval Reception, oil on canvas, 1649, 104.5 × 143.2 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Simon de Vlieger's seascape from the 17th century shows a ceremonial naval assembly, which symbolizes the Dutch Republic's maritime supremacy during the Golden Age, a period defined by scientific advancement and European expansion. In addition to commercial trade, the placid waters and bustling ships also symbolize geopolitical communication and ceremonial demonstrations of naval might. De Vlieger provides insight into the material sophistication of early modern seafaring through his painstaking depictions of ships and rigging. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the painting shows how Europe's colonial expansion and the brutal upholding of imperial ideologies were made possible by the oceans. Boats packed with passengers and cargo represent the sea's function in moving people between continents, either voluntarily or under duress. The ocean’s dual nature as a facilitator of cross-cultural interaction and a conduit for colonial aggression is shown through De Vlieger’s depiction of the Dutch Golden age.

Unknown Maker, Message in a Bottle, glass and paper, 1913, approximately 15 × 5 cm, recovered from the Baltic Sea; currently held at the International Maritime Museum, Hamburg.

The image of a vintage glass bottle with 19th-century Chicago commercial slogans etched on it is appropriated in this modern piece by the artist duo Kennard Phillipps. The item turns into a metaphor for transient signals of desire, consumption, or distress that are thrown into the sea. With its text promising labor-saving ease and betraying histories of environmental degradation and waste exported via oceans, the bottle is an artifact of industrial capitalism. The artists imply the lasting legacy of commodification and imperial messaging hidden in everyday objects by transferring this image onto canvas. Similar to how the ocean transports both communication and contamination, this bottle vacillates ambiguously between message and pollution. It works well with De Vlieger's ceremonial fleet, establishing a connection between the earliest maritime trade and the current international trade networks and their ecological costs.

Unknown Maker, Section of Submarine Telegraph Cable (British Columbia–Fanning Island), copper, gutta-percha, steel wire, 1902, diameter approx. 4 cm, Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK.

The first intercontinental electrical messages were physically sent over this cable remnant, once located beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Its ability to instantly transmit information between North America and Europe belies its modest, industrial appearance. Through this technology the ocean gained new significance as a bridge for trade, diplomacy, and surveillance. This technological marvel had a profound impact on how empires maintained control, communicated, and negotiated, especially during colonial conflicts. The cable serves as a reminder that the sea is a highly engineered area that is influenced by political and technological infrastructure, rather than merely being a vast natural expanse. The presentation of this item after the ceremonial painting and the symbolic bottle highlights a shift from the slow, symbolic maritime communication to the electrification of the empire.

Violence

Beneath the ocean surface lies a history of conquest, displacement, and conflict. This section explores the ocean’s role as a stage for imperial expansion, forced migration, and maritime warfare, revealing how the ocean can become a medium for the spread of power.

Slave Ship, Manuel Mendive

Upon first glance, Manuel Mendive’s Slave Ship is nothing more than a pretty ocean landscape, created in a style traditional to African tribal clothing. However, closer inspection reveals an alarming sight: the ship is jam-packed with black human figures. Mendive, who himself is half-African, uses color and texture to display the Middle Passage in an unusually eccentric way, with his emphasis on cultural textile patterns revealing the intensity with which the transatlantic slave trade is woven into the history of the African people. Further observation of the work shows a landscape made up entirely of marine creatures: the water is composed of intertwined sea serpents, while the sky is filled with an array of jellyfish and koi fish. Mendive’s incorporation of these aquatic animals into every part of his painting portrays the sea as an accomplice in the extreme violence of the Middle Passage; not only were slaves transported across the water to the Americas, but, for many, the water itself became a vehicle for their deaths. The singular black figure falling head first off the side of the ship is representative of all who never made it to the other side of the sea, instead becoming a part of it themselves.

Law of the Journey, Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei’s Law of the Journey immediately arrests the attention of every museumgoer; at almost 70 meters long, the size of the installation makes it an inevitable site of ethical confrontation. Serving as a compelling commentary on the contemporary humanitarian crisis of forced migration, the boat utilizes the same material used to make actual refugee vests. It is filled with over 250 inflatable bodies —both hollow and faceless— symbolizing the inhumane conditions that these refugees are subjected to, and the frailty of their lives when undertaking such dangerous journeys in order to reach safety. Though the actual brutality displacing these refugees takes place on land, the extreme conditions which they must undergo in order to escape are exacerbated in the waters. In their fight to survive the hazards of the sea, the dangers faced by forced migrants are often made even worse due to human cruelty. There are numerous examples, such as that of the 2011 Left-to-Die Boat and the 2024 Canary Islands Tragedy, where nearby coastguards, ships, and helicopters have noticed stranded refugee boats, yet failed to rescue them— dooming most (if not all) of its passengers to agonizing deaths. Here, the ocean again becomes the medium allowing for human demise.

Original Jolly Roger, Unknown

Films, books, and other forms of modern media have made this classic skull-and-crossbones symbol a universally recognizable proclamation of pirates— albeit a very sterilized and “Disneyfied” pop culture version of them. Many people fail to realize the genuine fear that seeing this black-and-white banner once instilled out on the open waters. It sent a clear message: “surrender immediately, or face death without mercy,” serving more as a psychological weapon than a direct bearer of violence. Being well aware of the sheer destruction that pirates were capable of carrying out on the waters— invading, robbing, and murdering entire ships of people— any rational captain would surrender without hesitation upon being approached by a ship flying such a flag. Not only does the Jolly Roger signify the violence that was enabled by the ocean's waters, as well as the escape that it offered to these criminals after committing treacherous acts, it also exhibits the ocean’s role as a vessel for communication (as explored in the previous section). While these flags are no longer utilized in the modern world, pirates remain a real threat across the globe, showing that even as times change, the ocean’s nature as a vehicle of violence remains.

Transportation (Port Cities)

Goods, wealth, and empires have long depended on the sea. In this section, we explore how global trade routes, port cities, and cargo ships turned the ocean into a medium for commerce, linking distant communities together.

Claude Lorrain, Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba

Oil on canvas, 1648, 149.1 × 196.7 cm

National Gallery, London

Claude Lorrain’s Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba depicts the Queen of Sheba’s departure to visit King Solomon, as described in the First Book of Kings in the Bible. In this scene, a richly dressed group boards a small boat leading toward a moored ship, surrounded by Roman architecture as the sun rises at the center of the frame, creating a golden glow that lights up the sky, water, and buildings. Lorrain’s use of light conveys a sense of purity, suggesting that a port is just not a gateway to a region but a place of importance in other aspects of society as well. Through this composition, Lorrain portrays ports as more than an infrastructure: it is a vital part in imperialism and the success of empires. In this painting, the ocean serves as the medium where ambition, faith, and power can move and spread across the globe. The Queen’s journey of religion and diplomacy, illustrates how ocean travel has enabled meetings that can shape the course of history, as the sea is not simply a backdrop, but a connecting force that enables influence.

Joaquín Sorolla’s The Port of Valencia captures the everyday life of a Mediterranean harbor illuminated in early morning sunlight. In this scene, dockworkers move goods across boats, with large cargo ships anchored in the middle distance and smaller boats sailing in the foreground. In this piece, Sorolla avoids the use of focal points, instead allowing the viewer’s eye to drift naturally across water, boats, and silhouettes. This immerses the viewer in the scene, allowing them to observe the port not from afar but be present in the moment. In doing so, the painting conveys the normal view of everyday life, where the port is not defined by its location, but by its continuity, the unseen labor, and the rhythm of life along the water, which allows the place to function. Here, the ocean acts as the medium that sustains the routines of everyday life, where it enables trade, connection, and the flow of human connections across the world.

Joaquín Sorolla, The Port of Valencia

Oil on canvas, 1882, 25 × 46 cm

Museu de Belles Arts de València, Spain

Anonymous Chinese Artist, Painting of the Port of Canton

Oil on canvas, c. 1830, 32.385 × 58.42 cm

National Museum of American History

Painting of the Port of Canton offers a precise illustration of Guangzhou’s waterfront during the Canton System. Chinese junks and Western ships float side by side in a calm harbor, while rows of Hongs, foreign trading offices, line the shore with flags of the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands being represented. The precise and clear style of the painting does not have any narrative, but instead allows the viewer to observe the infrastructure of global trade itself. However, this painting also conveys tension of an impending political conflict, as China’s restrictive trade policies and foreign pressure would soon culminate in the Opium Wars. This painting captures a moment when the port of Canton stood as both a meeting point and a flashpoint for economic and political powers. In this painting, the ocean becomes the medium where cultures, goods, and political tensions intersect, as both a place for international exchange and emerging conflicts.