Aquatopia exhibition explores ocean deep as historical and fantastical frontier

Aquatopia, a transhistorical exhibition curated by Alex Farquharson, investigates the ocean as a site of scientific and imaginative exploration. The show includes works spanning from 1814 to 2013, featuring artists like Hannah Wilke, Alex Bag, Ethan Kramer, Shimabuku, The Otolith Group, and Mikhail Karikis. It references Jules Verne's 1870 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Victorian aquariums, and Henry Emden's 1903 stage designs. Ernst Haeckel's illustrations of sea creatures and Jean Painlevé's underwater films from the 1920s, including Love Life of the Octopus (1965), are highlighted. Painlevé's work appeared in Georges Bataille's journal Documents. The exhibition presents the deep as a fantastical residence, with monsters resembling humans, such as in Hokusai's 1814 print Tako to Ama (Pearl Diver and Two Octopi). Shimabuku's Octopus Stone (2013) collects objects from cephalopods. Key video works include The Otolith Group's Hydra Decapita (2010), about a mythical race from Detroit techno group Drexciya, and Mikhail Karikis's SeaWomen (2012), featuring elderly divers from Jeju island. The review was published in October 2013.