13,700,000 km^3

Like all seas, the Mediterranean is not neutral, though its calm waters — as seen from this “room with a view” — seem to suggest otherwise. It is impregnated with a myriad of meanings, many of them man-made, others inherent in the natural condition of its evolution (six million years ago, Africa and Europe collided, closing the Straits of Gibraltar. In two thousand years, as a result of the movement of the tectonic plates, the Mediterranean all but dried up. Some 640,000 years later, water was restored to the basin by a biblical flood). Just 1.2 km away is Turkey. In 2015, Samos was one of the islands that bore the brunt of the refugee crisis. These islands on the edges of Europe and at the junction of three continents are highly contested in terms of geopolitics. Indeed, from ancient times to this day, the history of Greece has always been tied to the sea, which has played a crucial role in shaping local people’s identities. The country is surrounded by almost 14,000 km of coastline, and this has had a significant impact on diverse issues, ranging from trade, tourism, the economy, and shipping to literature, art, and poetry. Greece was also one of the “first actors” in Mediterranean history, according to historian Michel Mollat du Jourdin,3 together with Spain and Italy.

As a major component of the Earth’s ecosystem, the Mediterranean is at the crux of environmental, social, economic, and geopolitical shifts, as well as other key questions of today, which transcend its geographical delimitations — from migration and border issues, questions of national sovereignty, competing economic interests and extractivism, to tourism overload and environmental issues such as overfishing, threatened ecosystems, climate change, pollution, waste, high evaporation levels.4 The Mediterranean is under threat; at the same time, it has become the burial ground for thousands of people fleeing war and persecution in Africa and the Middle East. Much as it has been seen as an area of common development and common interests, it has equally been an area of conflict, violence and antagonism. In places, it has experienced the collapse of social order and is still witness to states that disregard international law, to rising populism, nationalism5 and authoritarianism, as well as sporadic extremism. This is a fragile geography — precisely because of so many disparate yet intertwined histories, cultural heritages, and conflicts of economic interest. The challenges and threats facing the Mediterranean are long-standing as well as new. Dynamics are changing in the region: One only needs to think of how Turkey has turned its back to Europe and the country’s slide towards authoritarianism; Italy’s populist turn; the unfortunate outcome of the Arab Spring; chaos in Syria and Libya; the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, indeed backtracking — which has been aided and abetted by the current U.S. administration; finally, China’s increasing economic presence in the region and its establishment of a commercial network there.6

Closer to home, the discovery of gas deposits in waters around Cyprus creates a new tension between Turkey and Cyprus (and by default, Greece) in the Eastern Mediterranean, regarding overlapping claims over maritime territories and natural resources on the partly occupied island. Even as this is being written, Turkey is sending its second drilling ship into disputed waters off the coast of Northern Cyprus to search for natural gas, claiming that this offshore maritime zone, considered an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), falls under the jurisdiction of Turkish Cypriots — though the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” is not recognised by any country other than Turkey. Similar conflicting interests and maritime territorial claims have risen to the fore due to the discovery of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean — predicted by a U.S. geological survey as having the potential to become one of the world’s most prominent gas producers in years to come.7 Due to this, Israel has the potential to be transformed from an energy-dependent country to a key supplier in the region.8 In the meantime, it continues to block access to Palestinian gas off the shores of Gaza (and within the latter’s 37-km limit from the shore, the area which they are theoretically allowed to exploit).9 This has created a so-called “captive market,”10whereby Israel exploits Palestinian gas and sells it back to them at high prices, putting the Palestinians in debt and charging them high interest rates for delayed payments. Israel’s restriction of movement in this respect has left Gazan fishermen impoverished and marginalised.11 In addition, as there is no mutually agreed border between Israel and Lebanon, their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) are subject to dispute.

In addition to these geopolitical realities, there are issues concerning the management of maritime activities, the question of employment, of how to maintain peace and stability in the region, how to manage migration (a key question where Europe has thus far failed), and the problem of human trafficking. Yet, perhaps the biggest and most pressing challenge is the protection of the environment and the ecosystem. The Mediterranean is the most overfished sea in the world.12 Moreover, it is estimated that 3,000 tons of plastic are floating around. There is rising awareness in some parts of the Mediterranean, yet urgent action is needed. A shining example is the Marine Protected Area and Terrestrial Reserve of Torre Guaceto in the municipalities of Brindisi and Carovigno, Southern Italy. This marine area saw a dramatic decline in fish stocks, and in 2001 the area was declared a Marine Protected Area (MPA) and was closed to fishing. By 2003, the MPA had 2 to 10 times as many sea breams compared to a fully fished area. The Torre Guaceto MPA is adjacent to an artisanal fishing community. In 2005, scientists and fishermen designed an adaptive co-management plan to allow carefully controlled fishing in a partially protected area. The twofold goal was to help sustain fishermen’s income while limiting the impact of fishing by minimising harm to underwater habitats through the use of special fishing equipment and the protection of young fish. Fishermen also agreed to fish only once a week. The strategy not only worked in terms of protecting the ecosystem, but also resulted in the increase of the fishermen’s income, as catch rates averaged two to four times higher than those outside the MPA. At the same time, Torre Guaceto invested in ecotourism. This is a noteworthy example of the benefits of a long-term view on sustainability, when there is collaboration and co-management among fishermen, locals, and scientists. Torre Guaceto is a visionary example that should be emulated by other marine communities throughout the Mediterranean.13 By contrast, short-sightedness, profiteering, and over-exploitation often result in collateral damage for several actors and stakeholders in the long run.

The depths of the sea — and the Mediterranean is no exception — are also the last frontier within human reach and as such are increasingly vulnerable to human exploitation. The seas are the cornerstones of the Earth’s life support system. They determine climate and weather, and contain 97% of the planet’s water, as well as countless species (many as yet unaccounted for). The exhibition 13,700,000 km3 will consider how human activity and human interests impact on the delicate balance of our planet’s ecosystem, maritime geopolitics, and their repercussions, with the island of Samos and the Mediterranean Sea at the epicentre. Taking as its cue the symbolic location of Art Space Pythagorion, the exhibition will look into how the sea has helped shape identities and economies in the Mediterranean and South-Eastern Europe. It is, of course, impossible to cover all the major issues that affect the Mediterranean region. Instead, artists in the exhibition each focus on
a specific topical issue: from a fresh view on migration and the refugee crisis, and the presence of networks in the Aegean archipelago and the Mediterranean to the effects of tourism, the endangered Mediterranean fish, plastic pollution and the demise of age-old maritime crafts such as caique building. Caiques are traditional Greek fishing boats, which have been navigating the waters of the Aegean and Ionian seas for centuries. In 1991, the European Union’s fishing vessel retirement program began, with the supposed aim of reducing overfishing and protecting fish stocks. The first EU directive stipulated the withdrawal of boats and the handing in of the fishermen’s professional licenses. In 2014, the programme was modified and the mandatory destruction of the boats was imposed, in return for cash subsidies to the fishermen who complied with the directive. The result is that, to date, 13,785 out of the roughly 17,000 caiques that existed in Greece have been forcibly destroyed. This is a fundamental national loss. Not only has a century-old tradition all but been destroyed, but also the know-how of caique-building is in danger of being lost. Each boat is unique since it is built without any technical drawings, but from the memory and experience of each craftsman. This is one of the many calamities that affect the marine societies of the Greek seas.

In her book Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics, Rebecca Solnit argues for a political reading of place, geography, land, and the environment, and underlines the importance of understanding politics through place.14 She defines the latter as “a crossroads, a particular place of intersection of forces, coming from many directions and distances,”15 pointing out the interconnectedness of nature and culture, landscape and politics, city and country. In this sense, it is impossible to see changes in the marine environment without also seeing complementary changes in the political terrain and the diverse forces bearing on the sea.

The Mediterranean is, first and foremost, a shared space. What happens in one part will affect another, as seen by the 2015 refugee crisis, sparked largely by the war in Syria. What of its future, given the threat of war, environmental degradation, commercial and extractivist interests, and power politics? German historian Bernd Thum points out that the Euro-Mediterranean area should be seen “as an area of multilateral action and joint responsibility, with a shared history, a shared heritage, as well as a shared development and a common future. The aim of this redefinition should be the consolidation of the area as a geopolitical entity of a new kind. This is a political task. A successful policy in this direction requires, in addition to leadership, ideas and reliability, to be aware of two basic conditions: the lasting sustainable, now intensifying densification of reciprocal relations in the Euro-Mediterranean area, creating new dynamic spatial entities, notwithstanding existing political boundaries.”16 To this I would add a sense of common ownership and responsibility towards a rich heritage and a diverse natural biotope — of immense beauty, no doubt — which needs to be cherished and protected by all countries. But in order to do that, one must start in one’s own backyard.