Waters of High Seas

“Waters of the High Seas” is a site-specific installation created for the super bien! Berlin project space, a greenhouse in the courtyard of a former GDR school.

The transparent structure led me to imagine an installation where the cut-out maps could be viewed from all sides and through them. The 1972 maps represent different regions and seas of the world—the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Red Sea.

Cut, folded, and painted, the maps show, on one side, the land areas—where the bodies of water appear as cut-out sections mirrored as black shadows. On the other side, the maps appear as black shapes that resemble abstractions, from which cutouts of seas and oceans emerge. In a way, the maps reveal their organic forms, expanding beyond the contours of the cartography printed on paper and blending with the external environment, almost mimicking the surrounding nature.

Water regions, which are often less detailed on regional maps, are zones of transformation and conflict. Oceans are where various infrastructures are laid (such as internet cables), where navigation zones are established for exploration, migration, and border disputes (with artificial islands built to extend border lines), and where rising sea levels due to global warming are observed.

The maps have signs of use, as students in the cartography program previously used them. Today, now outdated, these maps have lost their purpose and become disposable material. As borders shift, countries change names, and others cease to exist, the maps become dated and serve as records of a specific time.

The materials that bear witness to our culture and become discarded remnants interest me most: what forgotten stories and references do they bring to light? What distinguishes these outdated materials from those of historical value? How can these printed maps (now obsolete) be transformed into something that reflects the contemporary world? How can a printed map become a body in space? These are some of the questions that accompanied me during the process of making “Waters of High Seas.”

Marina Camargo, September 2026.

Marina Camargo

Waters of High Seas

09.09. – 18.10.2026

super bien! Berlin

* Special thanks to Elisabeth Sonneck, Paula Carralero Bierzynska, Prof. Ronny Schomacker, and HTW Berlin.