FINAL Faster than Light – teaser – Cinema Hall.mp4

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

This teaser, will be part of a presentation to be given during the 24h Virtual Early Career Ocean Professionals event (June 1st 2021) organized by the Konsortium Deutsche Meersforschung in which the design concept of SLOC and its incidence in the Ocean sustainability discourse will be introduced.

The documentary spins around the topic of Anthropogenic Noise and its incidence in underwater fauna.
The presentation brings to the table elements from the worlds of Storytelling and Design and it is based on the following premise:

One of the fundamental aspects of a culture of care (care for the ocean), a culture of Sustainability is: awareness. Raising awareness about the state of the art of our Oceans and also about the possibilities and solutions to improve its life, which ultimately is our life, is the main goal of this work.

In the world of Design, there is a branch specialized in Social Innovation, this is, a Design that instead of manufacturing objects, focuses in developing ideas, services and systems to face in a collaborative way, the challenges of a given context contributing to a regeneration of both, the social tissue and the sense of place of a community. This kind of Design starts by observing non-designers projecting with an innovative approach, new ways of being and doing. These non-designers propose and enact ideas from the bottom up, such as rooftop gardens, DIY bicycle workshops or Fab Labs.
Some of these initiatives find institutional support, which is a fundamental stage if we really want to see substantial changes. Now, most of this Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability is based on a concept coined by Professor Ezio Manzini. The concept of: SLOC. Which stands for: Slow Local Open and Connected.

Now, what does it have to do with the Oceans? How can we apply the concept to the Oceans in terms of public awareness?
It’s important to understand how each young professional and the general public from their own LOCAL practice can act globally in an OPEN and CONNECTED way to work along the Decade and beyond. Now, the first element of SLOC, which is: Slow can be enunciated and developed to address one of the hazards challenging our seas: the Anthropogenic Noise.
I would like to start from there, from the Slow, quoting the premise adopted by some Ports to reduce the effects of shipping traffic noise: “A slower boat is a quieter boat”. The concept of Slow, becomes instrumental for the health and sustainability of our Oceans, for its fauna and for human life itself, if slowdown measures are taken.
But for this, other disciplines need to be informed. So, giving visibility to the threads but also to the efforts to mitigate the “noise” is of utmost importance. Also because in a multidisciplinary effort, I hope that we can also learn about the need to “slow down” the frantic noise on Earthly human dwellings, by listening better to what the Ocean, and its creatures, have to say.

With this aim, I am in the pre-production of a new documentary. A communication “artefact” aimed at giving voice to the Ocean and its people by making visible the disruptions and also the resounding silence of decisions made in our anthropogenic era. The documentary (maybe a trilogy) will be produced inside a social innovation framework, but also in a pandemic one, where it is not easy to travel around the world gathering images, sounds, testimonials and all the necessary footage for a film. Therefore, I would like to develop this documentary on a collaborative way. And for this, I would like to invite participants to join, by sending videos (those who may have footage or study the topic) related to noise pollution on the Ocean.

Andrea Mendoza, Director.
Additional underwater footage Jorge Rodriguez (buceo NAUI)

Music beats: „Me Myself & I“ by Marco Scalon

Whales still images from NOAA Free Library

Mammals footage and additional voices kindly provided by AIMM Portugal- Associção para a Investigação do Meio Marinho / Marine Environment Research Association

Additional sounds:
Shipping Noise

Construction:
Offshore Energy

Seismic Airguns

Military Mid-Frequency Sonar

Explosion