GSR

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This ‘hot’ asset did not remain in American hands. It ended up in Belgium, home to the original OMA-partner Union Minière. In 2013, Belgian company Global Sea Minerals Resources GSR received an exploration license from the International Seabed Authority ISA for a precisely named area in the Pacific. GSR’s application had been supported by Umicore (successor of Union Minière), which acted as GSR’s patron. The application explicitly mentioned USA-3 as the target area. Apparently, the ISA had never had a formal grip on this part of the ocean. The ‘deposit’ had been sliding down, as a private asset, through a genealogy from one private heir to another. And now, the time for extraction is ripe, with GSR at the forefront of deep-sea mining. It shares the license area with the island state of the Cook Islands, in accordance with ISA’s rules.

From: Undo Enclosures

The deep-sea clay used is from the GSR exploration contract area. We received the samples through marine biologist Sabine Gollner, NIOZ, who is conducting research on fauna recovery after mine impacts. Visual artist and ceramist Lot Lemm advised us with technical knowledge for manufacturing ceramic products.

From: Algae to Ashes, Ashes to Glazes

As a floor plan for the performance, we use a selfie manoeuvre designed by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the Belgian company GSR. During this manoeuvre, an excavator on the ocean floor drives through the cloud of sediment it creates itself. In this way, the industry records and analyses the damage it causes itself in the deep sea.

From: Beyond the Dirt, in 5 Selfies

At the Algae to Ashes, Ashes to Glazes workshop by the Atlas of Ovens, we started the first tests with sediment from the deepsea. The sediment comes from the GSR exploration contract area and we received it via NIOZ, which conducts research into the recovery of fauna after mine impacts.

From: Recolonising the Deepsea