From May 8th to August 24th, 2025, Villa Arson in Nice hosts Becoming Ocean, a landmark exhibition exploring our evolving relationship with the sea. Presented as part of the Nice Biennial of Arts and the Ocean and in dialogue with the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), this major group show is co-organized by TBA21–Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, the Tara Ocean Foundation, and the Schmidt Ocean Institute.
Uniting over 20 international artists, the exhibition turns a critical eye to ecological threats facing the world’s oceans, while offering poetic, political, and scientific responses. Curated by Hélène Guenin, Chus Martínez, Sébastien Ruiz, and Marie-Ann Yemsi, Becoming Ocean moves beyond alarm to propose new forms of understanding and cohabitation between humans and marine ecosystems.
Among the featured works is a ceremonial altar by Courtney Desiree Morris, honoring ancestral oceanic knowledge. Allan Sekula critiques maritime economies through archival photography, while Diana Policarpo traces colonial residues in marine biodiversity. Seba Calfuqueo centers Indigenous perspectives, revealing water as both sacred and contested.
Experimental approaches emerge in works by Sonia Levy and Robertina Šebjanič, who investigate invisible pollutants and deep-sea militarization. Meanwhile, Max Hooper Schneider imagines speculative seascapes shaped by post-human futures.
More than an exhibition, Becoming Ocean positions Villa Arson as a site of ecological imagination. In partnership with TBA21, Tara Ocean Foundation, and the Schmidt Ocean Institute, it affirms the power of art to spark urgent environmental conversations. Free and open to the public (except Tuesdays), this is a rare chance to experience art as a force for planetary change.
Photography courtesy of VILLA ARSON