LAW OF THE SEA

Law of the Sea, 2019. Hyperlinked PDF. Commissioned by Yarat Contemporary Art Space, Baku, Azerbaijan.


"Law of the Sea" is a series of seven hyperlinked Japanese tanka poems that exclusively use vocabulary extracted from international news articles discussing the geo-politics of the Caspian Sea. In particular, ongoing disputes and treaties among the five littoral states: Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, focusing on subsoil resources, military borders, and potential pipeline development. The title references the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, governing how nations engage with large bodies of water. With a journalistic cadence, "Law of the Sea" presents a narrative depicting an aquatic revolution, challenging the traditional land-sea power dynamics.


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Mark