From September 10 to 12, Ustica hosted Art4Sea’s grand finale, where performances and artworks turned the island into an open-air stage celebrating the sea and our connection to it.
From September 10 to 12, the island of Ustica turned into a unique stage, welcoming for the second consecutive year the European project Art4Sea. Three intense days intertwined art, science, and the local community, offering the audience an experience with the flavor of a collective dream.
The inaugural press conference
On September 10, the info point of the Ustica Marine Protected Area in Piazza Umberto I hosted the inaugural press conference of the project’s final events. The meeting, moderated by Emilia Brandi from 3D Research, brought together institutions, partners, and artists, creating a dialogue between knowledge, experiences, and future visions.
Speakers included the Mayor of Ustica, Salvatore Militello, the Director of the Marine Protected Area, Davide Bruno, along with Fabio Bruno (3D Research s.r.l.), coordinator of Art4Sea, and project partners Lucenzo Tambuzzo (iWorld E.T.S.), Valeria Li Vigni (Sebastiano Tusa Foundation), Fabio Figurella (DAN Europe), Vicky Drouga (Atlantis Consulting SA), and Paula López-Sendino (Institut de Ciències del Mar – CSIC).
Joining online from Brussels, Silvia D’Elia, Project Officer at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), praised the consortium’s management and the results achieved so far. She also responded positively to the invitation of some divers attending the press conference to visit Ustica, to dive into its crystal-clear waters, and admire the underwater sculpture and the three murals created by the selected artists. Institutional commitments prevented the participation of Gilles Pelayo, Head of Unit B1 – Culture, EACEA, who nevertheless sent his support and appreciation for the project.
In their institutional greetings, Mayor Militello and Director Davide Bruno proudly reaffirmed Ustica’s central role in the success of Art4Sea. Project coordinator Fabio Bruno retraced the results achieved, particularly the involvement of the local community and environmental awareness through art. Lucenzo Tambuzzo, artistic director of the project, presented the 24 works produced, highlighting the eight dedicated to Ustica (four digital and four physical), and invited the public to the Grand Event, the heart of the Ustica days, conceived together with Pino Di Buduo, director of Teatro Potlach.
Vicky Drouga shared the experience of the community of Alonissos, which found an emotional connection in the works and stories of the artists; and Fabio Figurella recalled the meeting of common visions that sparked the desire to build a project capable of enhancing Ustica and other small Mediterranean communities. Paula López-Sendino emphasized the value of dialogue between science and art, explaining how CSIC biologists provided knowledge and methodologies during residencies and mentoring. Finally, Valeria Li Vigni presented the 3rd “Sebastiano Tusa” Sea Festival, which will also host the Art4Sea virtual exhibition in the Stanza del Mare, made possible thanks to the support of the Marine Protected Area and environmental educator Antonino Tranchina. Fabio Figurella then invited Debra Camilleri and Alexandra Camilleri from the Maltese Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to speak. They were on the island specifically for Art4Sea events, bringing their testimony to Ustica after having previously participated in and supported the project activities in Gozo.
The Grand Event
On the opening night, rain surprised the island, forcing the postponement of the event, prophetically titled Ustica Sommersa (“Submerged Ustica”). The wait only heightened participation: the following evening, a crowd of residents and visitors joined a widespread, choral performance.
The alleys of the historic center, some ground-floor apartments opened by Usticesi, and the Mother Church became living settings. The inhabitants, with their discreet yet powerful presence, were an integral part of the performance. Inside the church, powerful projections told the story of the island’s origins, while the external façade lit up with the faces of Usticesi welcoming arrivals or bidding farewell to departures.
The Grand Event turned into a true community celebration, strengthening the bond between the artists, the Art4Sea team, Nathalie Mentha and all the performers of Teatro Potlach, together with the people of Ustica.
The artworks of Ustica
Visitors to the island in the coming months will be able to discover the tangible legacy left by the project. Physical and digital works intertwine in a single narrative that celebrates the sea and its fragile beauty.
At the Santa Maria Pier stands the mural by Amanda Arrou-Tea/Mandi-oh, Mermaids do take care of the ocean: a female figure immersed in Ustica’s seabed among Cladocora caespitosa corals, symbol of fragility and resilience of the island’s seabeds, evoking shared responsibility for their protection.
Climbing toward the town’s main square, on the wall of the island pharmacy, one can be inspired by Guardians by Silvia Gadda/SiL, depicting another female figure wrapped in Posidonia oceanica. Essential for the balance of the Mediterranean, posidonia becomes in the guardian’s hands a vital cloak to be preserved.
Continuing among prickly pears and Mediterranean scrub to the structure called L’Acquario in Cala Santoro, one encounters the mural by Mariana Duarte Santos, Beneath the Surface. The work envelops the entire building and creates a dialogue between divers and marine fauna, reminding us that beneath the surface lies a precious heritage that belongs to all and that we are all called to preserve.
Finally, off Cala Giacone, at about 18 meters deep, comes to life the underwater sculpture The Queen of the Corals by Davide Galbiati: a hieratic yet welcoming female figure who becomes a symbol of respect and care for the sea, silent queen of an ecosystem to be defended and contemplated.
The digital and digitized works
All these works, in their digitized form, together with the other eight realized in Alonissos and Gozo, are collected in the Art4Sea Virtual Exhibition, where one can also explore the 12 digital works created within the project with VR headsets. In Ustica, this immersive exhibition received extraordinary acclaim: during the Grand Event evenings, a small queue formed to wear the headsets and embark on a virtual journey. Through this experience, the audience was able not only to relive the island through the digital works created for Ustica but also to travel to Gozo and Alonissos to discover the specific features that inspired the artists and the various messages for the protection of marine ecosystems.
The four ‘Usticesi’ digital works offered unique sensory and narrative experiences.
Liquid Tiles by Carlos Izquierdo is a digital work intertwining sound and generative code to tell the harmony between humanity and the ocean. Ustica’s sounds are transformed into visual patterns inspired by local ceramics, prompting reflection on our role as guardians of the sea.
you don’t know what love is by Annika Boll is a poetic video game that weaves lost love and ecological loss to evoke the intimate and universal dimension of our relationship with the sea.
Wake up to Disappear… by Natalia Wilk is an underwater dance film exploring our sense of belonging to the ocean. An immersive journey among corals and suspended gravity, inviting us to rethink the human body as a body of water, in balance with the sea rather than above it.
Ustica VR by Simon Duflo is a VR short film introducing viewers to the world of freediving in Ustica. A sensory journey between wonder and awareness, reconnecting body, sea, and the planet’s future in an immersive experience that, through the headset, conveyed to the audience the island’s power and beauty, moving and inspiring them deeply.
All Art4Sea works are gathered in the ART section of the project website. Most digital works are available to view online, while the physical ones are accompanied by photo galleries and the artists’ notes. An archive that broadens the project’s reach and strengthens its message of awareness on the value and protection of the sea.
And, precisely in this perspective of shared awareness, the project’s next step will be a series of important dissemination events, dedicated to both the artistic and scientific soul of Art4Sea. Meetings designed for the younger generations, to be held in the five partner cities, continuing to unite creativity and science in a single message of care for our ocean.
