The Mediterranean holds the sad record of being one of the most polluted seas in the world. Plastic is a particular threat to marine biodiversity: ingested by marine fauna and flora, it completely contaminates the sea and the entire food chain of living beings. The French Riviera is particularly affected by this issue.
Preserving the health of the sea means preserving the biodiversity of marine organisms (posidonia, plankton, coral, mammals, fish, birds, etc.).
This project therefore proposes to emblematic cities of the French Riviera to participate together in the conservation of the health of the sea through several events:
Highlighting the scientific research and technologies of the various maritime observatories (the Oceanological Observatory of Villefranche-sur-Mer and the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco) through conferences and exhibitions;
Use AI to detect, recover and transform polluting maritime debris (old fishing nets, bags, bottles);
Raise awareness through Art thanks to a photographic exhibition of committed artists;
To show that Art and AI can be a wonderful source of creation: AI allows to locate and transform marine waste and micro plastics into useful objects (glasses, clothes,…) or material for artistic creation.
THE EXHIBITION : Mandy Barker
Mandy Barker is an English photographer who has been working for more than ten years on marine plastic debris. She has won international awards and regularly collaborates with scientists to raise public awareness of marine pollution through particularly aesthetic and powerful photographic compositions.
Her work has been exhibited worldwide (MoMA in New York, Korea, London, Hong Kong…) and published in more than fifty different countries. She has also been nominated for several photography awards (Magnum FoundationFund, LOBA Award, PictectAwardSpace, etc).
Mandy Barker‘s strength lies in the power of her images, which she uses to provoke public reaction to ocean pollution. Her compositions are at once beautiful, dreamlike and terrifying, provoking in the viewer a fascination and awareness of what is violently destroying our marine ecosystem.