Lightbox Publishing — Our Ocean Guide — 威尼斯/香港

“Our Ocean Guide” is the brain-child of artist duo MAP Office (Valérie Portefaix and Laurent Gutierrez) in collaboration with Lightbox, and is a totally non-profit project created to raise awareness among the international art community on the environment issues related to the sea. “Our Ocean Guide” should not be confused for a navigation guide, the type of book you take on your boat to be able to survive at sea, to find valuable passage through the right winds and currents, to read the stars when your compass fails.

Most people have an obstinate tendency to observe the world from land, the build and its infrastructure, the planned and its controlled space, the domesticated and its economy. Our Ocean Guide started with a simple ambition: to develop a process through which to show what MAP Office has been learning from their compulsive exploration of islands, and to communicate this in a printed format. The guide is a room where invited contributors from multiple horizons – scientists, oceanographers, activists, anthropologists, artists, poets, architects, cooks, farmers, fishermen share their research, their actions, their dreams.