The researchers involved in this programme are investigating the ways in which local or regional maritime artistic practices and imaginaries have emerged in various communities and territories in the North Atlantic area, and the role played by these imaginaries and practices in the invention or reinvention of maritime identities in a political context marked by the rise of European regionalisms.
The aim is to examine a variety of resources to understand contemporary artistic strategies (literary, aesthetic, audiovisual, etc.) used to represent, heritage, idealise or de-idealise the sea, the island and the coast, depending on the cultural or political orientations and objectives of the artists, local authorities and activists involved in this process of representation. The aim is also to understand how these representations or imaginaries enable local populations to promote themselves as communities, to reconfigure their image, to reconcile paradigms (local/European, etc.) and to envisage the sea and coast not only as resources to be exploited but also as reservoirs of cultural practices for identity affirmations. The project focuses on two geographical areas: Brest Métropole in Brittany (France) and Gdansk in Pomerania (Poland).
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
