Six New Guardians, Six New Perspectives on a Shared Sea
When talking about the Baltic Sea, we often talk about numbers around biodiversity loss, eutrophication, pollution levels, or climate change. But what would happen if we approached these challenges through stories, memories, cultural traditions, activism, and art, instead of abstract numbers?
For the 2026 edition of Guarding the Baltic Sea, we have selected six artists who view this shared environment and its challenges from their own, unique angles while sharing a common commitment as Guardians of the Baltic Sea.
In the work of the French artist Laure Vigna, this commitment is approached from a place of powerful silence and invisibility. Working at the intersection of art and environmental studies, she creates sculptural works that frequently incorporate microorganisms and cyanobacteria. By exploring these silent and invisible forms of life, Vigna gives a voice to the microbial stories stored in landscapes and bodies.
Another type of storytelling can be found in the work of Estonian textile artist, writer and community organiser Mia Tamme. Drawing on Finno-Baltic traditions such as weaving, fishing, singing and seafaring, Tamme investigates how cultural practices carry ecological stories across generations. Tamme’s work critically engages with questions of identity, archives, gender and belonging, offering a queer and decolonial reading of Baltic histories and landscapes.
Another societal perspective can be found in the work of Polish visual artist, poet and researcher Weronika Zalewska whose art focuses on socio-economic transformations and their impact on both cultural and ecological landscapes. As a transmedia artist, she develops experimental languages and practices that deepen our understanding of interpersonal and interspecies entanglements, helping thus to imagine alternative pasts and futures.
The relationship between humans and other species is also central to the work of German designer and researcher Rasa Weber. Combining artistic research, diving practice and ecological design, Weber explores possible ways of collaborating with marine ecosystems, rather than viewing them as a resource. Through installations, out-of-the box design and material experimentation, she imagines alternative futures for ocean environments.
Research is also at the heart of the Helsinki-based, Italian media artist Roberto Fusco who investigates environmental phenomena through the lens of data, technology and perception. By translating complex scientific information into artistic forms, Fusco questions how knowledge about ecological change is produced, communicated and felt.
Human perception of water and living orgasms is also the core of Finnish Noora Sandgren’s work. Through photography, public artworks and educational projects, this visual artist invites audiences to look more closely at aquatic ecosystems and the delicate relationships that sustain them.
While their approaches differ, the Guarding the Baltic Sea 2026 artists invite us to engage with the sea not as a distant environmental issue, but as a living space that connects communities, histories and futures across the region. Activism, scientific research, cultural memory, community knowledge, artistic experimentation and public engagement all have a role to play in imagining sustainable futures.
