For All At Last Return: Deep Dives

Kristina Õllek and Dr Jenny Gales
Saturday 30 May | 18:00-19:00

Kristina Õllek and Dr Jenny Gales will discuss deep-sea exploration, mining and extraction, and the use of new technologies in marine environments.

Kristina Õllek is an Estonian artist currently based in Tallinn. She works with photography, video and installation, as well as microbial and chemical processes, with a focus on investigating aquatic ecosystems, geological matter, and human-altered environments. In her practice she uses a research-based approach, but also incorporates her own fictitious and speculative perspectives. She is interested in marine habitats and the notion of new technologies, including the geopolitical and ecological conditions associated with them. In For All At Last Return, Õllek presents a new installation, Breathing Deep Currency (2025), commissioned by Baltic.

Dr Jenny Gales is Associate Professor of Ocean Exploration at the University of Plymouth, specializing in submarine slope processes and geohazards. Jenny has a passion for submarine landslides, canyons, volcanoes, channels, and gullies on high latitude continental margins. Gales uses cutting-edge technologies to image and measure the seafloor and subseafloor, including shipboard acoustics, coring, marine robotics, autonomous vehicles, and direct monitoring. She has been involved in numerous international research projects including Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.

Shezad Dawood and Dr Sasha Montelli
Saturday 6 June | 18:00-19:00

Shezad Dawood and Dr Sasha Montelli will lead a discussion about coral reefs, the impacts of rising sea temperatures on marine environments, and the recent discovery of deep-sea corals and sponges in Antarctica.
 

Shezad Dawood is a British artist based in London. His multidisciplinary practice interweaves stories, realities, and symbolism to create richly layered artworks, spanning painting, textiles, sculpture, film, and digital media. His work takes a philosophical approach, asking questions and exploring alternative futures through what Dawood describes as ‘world-building'. His practice is animated by research, working with multiple audiences and communities to delve into narrative, history, and embodiment. His fascination with marine ecology and the potential for hybrid thinking across both human and marine ecosystems has been presented internationally.

Dr Sasha Montelli is a Lecturer in Environmental Change at the University College London. His interdisciplinary research combines marine geophysical data with sediment cores and numerical modelling to reconstruct past interactions between ice sheets, ocean, and solid earth on multiple temporal and spatial scales. The geography of Montelli's projects span both hemispheres, including East and West Antarctica, the Eurasian Arctic, and the subarctic Pacific.