Vertigo Sea is a 48-minute immersive three-channel video installation created by the British artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah in 2015. It is a meditation on man's relationship with the sea and explores issues including the history of slavery, migration, conflict, and ecological concerns such as whale and polar bear hunting and nuclear testing. It combines original footage filmed on the Isle of Skye, the Faroe Islands and the Northern regions of Norway, with archival material primarily from the BBC Natural History Unit. It also draws inspiration from two literary works: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville and the poem Whale Nation by Heathcote Williams. It premiered at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 which was curated by Okwui Enwezor.[1]

Exhibition history

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack was composed by Tandis Jenhudson.[23]

Reception

In its review of the 2015 Venice Biennale, The Guardian called Vertigo Sea as a "pained lyric to a passing world".[24] The Guardian's Adrian Searle provided a more in-depth review for the 2016 Arnolfini exhibition in Bristol, describing it as a "visual assault...ravishing and awful, sublime and depressing".[25]

The Arts Desk described it as an "epic meditation on mankind's relationship with the watery world" and "an elegantly choreographed 48-minute montage across three screens". It concluded that "there's no stronger way to get people to act than by showing what we stand to lose".

In its review of the 2017 Whitworth exhibition in Manchester, the New African magazine stated that it is "an enthralling montage of perplexing images and sounds, it consistently throws the viewer into scrutinising current heightened concerns on race, identity and migration".[26]

Afterimage described the "constant shifting and layering of sound and image across three large screens" that "creates an immersive spectacle and affecting experience that compels viewers' eyes, ears and emotions." It also highlighted the film's soundtrack, with sound borrowed from tragic opera arias, overlaid and intermingling with natural sounds and a "melancholic ambient score by British composer Tandis Jenhudson, which together suggest a funerary requiem".[27]

In their reviews of the 2018 Strange Days exhibition in London, Time Out stated that Vertigo Sea "steals the show with its lyrical, poignant and often shocking meditation on the Atlantic as a place of historical trauma, while the Evening Standard's Ben Luke described it as an "epic, elemental three-screen masterpiece".

The Cornell Daily Sun, in its 2019 review of the Johnson museum exhibition, described it as "stunning both in its beauty and horror" stating that "Akomfrah creates a visual installation that is overwhelming in its size and stimulus but with the purpose of remembering that the world remains a truly complex and weirdly beautiful place".[28]

In 2020, ARTnews ranked Vertigo Sea 2nd among John Akomfrah's five best works, one behind his 1986 film Handsworth Songs.[29]

References

  1. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Vertigo Sea". Arnolfini. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  2. ↑ "art-agenda". www.art-agenda.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  3. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Vertigo Sea". Arnolfini. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  4. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Vertigo Sea | www.nikolajkunsthal.dk". www.nikolajkunsthal.dk. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  5. ↑ "John Akomfrah Vertigo Sea". Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  6. ↑ "Vertigo Sea | CoCA Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki". coca.org.nz. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  7. ↑ "7 Things We Want to See at Nuit Blanche Toronto". canadianart.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  8. ↑ "Akomfrah's 'Vertigo Sea' travels to Turner Contemporary". www.lissongallery.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  9. ↑ "John Akomfrah | Whitworth Art Gallery". www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  10. ↑ "John Akomfrah / Vertigo Sea | Talbot Rice Gallery". www.trg.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  11. ↑ "Sublime Seas: John Akomfrah and J.M.W. Turner · SFMOMA". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  12. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Signs of Empire". www.newmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  13. ↑ "Immersive exhibition Strange Days to transform Brutalist building in London". The Spaces. 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  14. ↑ "The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement". www.phillipscollection.org. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  15. ↑ "Contemporary Art Daily » Blog Archive » John Akomfrah at Secession". contemporaryartdaily.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  16. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Future History | MAR 5 – SEP 7 2020 at Seattle Art Museum". John Akomfrah: Future History. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  17. ↑ "'John Akomfrah: The Earth is Flat' at CAAC Seville". www.lissongallery.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  18. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Vertigo Sea". MAC Montréal. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  19. ↑ "John Akomfrah". Fundació Antoni Tàpies. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  20. ↑ "John Akomfrah: Vertigo Sea - Exhibition at Towner Eastbourne in Eastbourne". ArtRabbit. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  21. ↑ "The Rules of Art?". National Museum Wales. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  22. ↑ "Destination masterpiece: 75 great artworks to see across the UK". the Guardian. 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  23. ↑ Spice, Anton (2015-05-30). "10 incredible sound and music works at the Venice Biennale 2015". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  24. ↑ "Venice Biennale: the world is more than enough". the Guardian. 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  25. ↑ "John Akomfrah's Vertigo Sea: human and natural history meet at the abyss". the Guardian. 2016-01-25. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  26. ↑ "Vertigo Sea: depicting migration". New African Magazine. 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  27. ↑ Glessing, Jill (2017-01-01). "Review: John Akomfrah: Vertigo Sea". Afterimage. 44 (4): 38–39. doi:10.1525/aft.2017.44.4.38. ISSN 0300-7472.
  28. ↑ Hockenberry, Erin (2019-09-09). "The Dizzying Power of Vertigo Sea". The Cornell Daily Sun. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  29. ↑ Greenberger, Alex (2020-06-16). "John Akomfrah's Best Films, Ranked: Strange Futures, Black Identities in Flux, Earthly Damage, and More". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
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