Exploration 4 - Croatia

For the final exploration time, artists gathered on the Adriatic coast to investigate the intersection of material transformation, ecological fragility, and cultural heritage through the lens of salt.
The salt marshes of Nin—among the oldest still in use in the Mediterranean—were chosen for their singular mode of production, where salt is formed solely through the action of sun, sea, and wind. This traditional, low-impact practice offered a rich ground for reflecting on sustainable resource use, human-nature interdependence, and the sensory and symbolic power of salt in a changing climate.
The programme focused on the material and environmental dynamics of salinity, exploring how salt concentration in the sea is affected by climate change and what this reveals about broader transformations in marine ecosystems.
Developed in collaboration with the Faculty of Science in Split, the scientific theme addressed salt as both a physical indicator of environmental imbalance and a substance entangled with ecological processes, sensory experience, and long-standing coastal practices.

The programme brought together scientific, critical, and artistic approaches to frame the week’s exploration. Researchers from the Faculty of Science in Split — Žarko Kovač, Marin Vojković, and Jadranka Šepić — provided an overview of ocean circulation, salinity dynamics, and the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems, offering salt as a lens through which to understand larger environmental shifts. Designer Ivica Mitrović introduced speculative design as a tool for critical thinking and imagination in public and artistic practice. Finally, a critical city walk with Jere Kuzmanić invited participants to reflect on the transformations of Split under the pressure of mass tourism and urban privatisation, exposing the fragility of coastal environments and the erosion of public space.

Artistic and pedagogical sessions led by Delphine Lanson and Magali Sizorn foregrounded the role of salt in bodily and sensory perception. Physical explorations in the Nin marshes and Split’s Diocletian Palace became opportunities to test gestures of extraction, preservation, and resistance. Salt, as presented by Sizorn, invited reflection on memory, care, and scale—an anthropology of matter that questioned how environmental attention could translate into artistic form. This fourth and last exploration marked a moment of synthesis, opening a space for artists to refine their prototypes before their immersion residencies.