Video Series
Produced in collaboration with the independent editorial platform entirely dedicated to culture and creativity Canal 180, and filmed on location across Europe, the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails 16-episode series aims to communicate the consortium’s larger aspirations, goals and approaches. More importantly, it aims to inform and inspire citizens directly involved or impacted by these pilots.
The series is split in two seasons, with episodes dropping every month from April to November in 2024 and 2025 – here and on Canal 180’s Youtube channel. Season 1, titled Drop, Ripple, Wave, is composed of conversations where consortium members and external experts discuss each of the eight pilot project typologies – drops. Season 2 will feature the projects’ locations, protagonists and results.
Season 1
Drop, Ripple, Wave
In this season, consortium partner members and experts discuss the concepts, aspirations and goals behind each Bauhaus of the Seas Sails drop. Under the drop, ripple, wave metaphor, drops are focused and localised initiatives developed at the territorial level, which aim to generate a ripple effect. As such, they are more than a project typology, extending from the demonstrator pilot level to the city, region, national and continental levels, thus demonstrating how each pilot is scaled and replicated across time and space.
Episode 1
Multispecies Assemblies
The Zoöp model is an organisational model for cooperation between human and non-human life that safeguards the interests of all zoë (Greek for ‘life’). The Zoöp model makes the interests of nonhuman life part of organisational decision making. In this first episode of Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, Nuno Jardim Nunes (Instituto Superior Técnico) and Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (Nieuwe Instituut) discuss this model and how it can help organizations become more ecologically responsible by having a direct perspective of how their decisions impact other species and ecosystems as a whole when making decisions.
Episode 2
Inclusive Digital Storytelling
In this second episode of Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, Luísa Metelo Seixas and Valentina Nisi (Instituto Superior Técnico) discuss the Inclusive Digital Storytelling drop which tackles cultural exclusion in displaced communities who are facing forced assimilation or ethnic segregation.
It does so by employing digital storytelling as a co-design tool for community cohesion and intercultural dialogue, involving marginalized communities and unheard voices. Additionally, it monitors ongoing changes through pilot implementations. Citizens contribute stories, leveraging cultural heritage for economic, social, and environmental benefits, fostering intercultural dialogues and bridging generational and species divides.
Episode 3
Ocean Literacy
Inspired by the concepts of Escola Azul and the Eco-Schools Network, as well as from the work of the FamStudio design practice, the Ocean Literacy drop aims at educating new generations to be more responsible and participative towards the sustainability of the oceans, aiming to translate scientific findings into actionable insights and design actions and products with industry and cultural partners.
Michael Palmgren, Manager of the Marine Education Center in Malmö, Sweden, has 40+ years of marine biology experience. He collaborates with Naturum Öresund to foster environmental stewardship. Marco Frade, a conservation biologist specializing in Portuguese freshwater ecosystems, focuses on fish fauna and invasive species. At Aquário Vasco da Gama, he develops educational programs to promote conservation.
Episode 4
Blue Seniors
Seniors are an essential and growing part of a community that hold traditions, experience, and knowledge but also have special needs and fragilities.
In this episode, Fabio Pittarello, computer science professor at Ca’ Foscari, and Venice City Councilor Paola Mar, discuss ways to promote spatial and cultural justice for seniors living in coastal areas, while making the most of their historical and cultural knowledge about these regions.
The Blue Seniors drop explores interactive design as a support for inhabiting a place, starting by examining seniors’ needs and involving them in the design and evaluation of platforms and tools prototyped in workshops. Characterized by an inclusive, intergenerational approach, it aims to bridge gaps among seniors, families, social services, designers, and entrepreneurs.
Episode 5
Blue Makerspace
The Blue Makerspace drop aims to create a design research space and knowledge-sharing program focused on water-based materials from a sustainable, non-extractivist perspective. Advocating for consciously sourcing and exploring natural resources, it fosters applied research projects in design, textiles, architecture and the agro-food industry. Inspired by Atelier Luma’s bioregional design approach, its goal is to integrate culture, critical thinking, technology and the sustainable use of river and sea-based resources.
Mariana Pestana, Co-PI and Arts & Culture Coordinator for Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, is an architect, curator and researcher exploring the role of design through cultural programs.
Markus Reymann is co-director of TBA21–Academy, which works with artists, scientists, and policymakers to create new knowledge and policies for ocean conservation.
Episode 6
Regenerative Menu
The Regenerative Menu drop aims to promote the creative implementation of foods that have a regenerative function in local aquatic ecosystems and embrace a dynamic form of eating, such as shifting to drought-resistant crops during water scarcity or relying on filter feeders in polluted or acidified waters. Through a co-design process with local partners – from chefs to sustainable algae producers – this initiative aims to create and test innovative menus, exploring the relationship between gastronomy, architecture, and design while researching food sources, production chains, consumption habits, and their respective environmental impacts.
Katinka Versendaal, Co-Design Lead at Deichtorhallen Hamburg, leads a multidisciplinary research-driven design studio that uses speculative gastronomy to explore the nature/culture divide and envision regenerative futures for food.
Frederico Duarte, communication coordinator for Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, is a design critic and curator, guest assistant professor at FBAUL and post-doc researcher at ITI, as well as co-founder of Fazer magazine.
Episode 7
Future Tidal Architectures
The Future Tidal Architectures drop engages young architects/urban/spatial designers in imagining future scenarios for coastal areas, deltas and wetlands, taking into account the challenges of sea-level rise and changing rainwater patterns.
Developed and transformed over millennia, these landscapes are home to large population groups and host complex social structures, from infrastructure (such as large ports), to heritage buildings and monuments uniquely related to their territory. They are also particularly affected by climate change. The Tidal Architectures drop addresses the design of interconnected urban and social plans for coastal and port cities, as well as their neighbouring rural areas and wetlands, while aiming to reconcile opposing interests and population groups based on co-design processes with citizens.
Carola Hein is full professor and chair of History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology.
Alessandra Libardo has been a transport engineer at the Venice Port Authority’s Strategic Planning and Development Department since 2014.
Episode 8
Living with Water
The Living with Water drop is part of a curriculum for and with the city and citizens of cities, which is initiated by The New Academy, a collaboration between the Nieuwe Instituut and Rosi Braidotti. The drop addresses the connection of water to a city’s identity. It focuses on shared water knowledge that can shape the city’s vision of itself, and help design a resilient future.
Together with different bottom-up, activist, cultural and archival organisations in Rotterdam, The New Academy develops a curriculum based on the concept of the ‘distributed university’. This assumes that knowledge is produced in a variety of locations and through many different subjects, not for profit and by the people. Within the Living with Water drop, the interdependency of water, citizens and the city is central.
Rosi Braidotti is a feminist Continental philosopher; Distinguished University Professor Emerita at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and Honorary Professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Francien Van Westrenen is head of Agency of Het Nieuwe Instituut and is responsible for mediation between Dutch designers, makers and architects and (inter)national platform, manifestations and policymaking.
