Accompanying the United Nations Ocean Conference happening in Nice, France, in 2025, ‘Becoming Ocean’ is an exhibition and event series led by TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.

The goal of this live experience is to reflect on what we know—and what we still ignore—about the ocean and its future. Through the lens of art and its countless forms, the exhibition seeks to initiate an open social dialogue around the urgent issues affecting the ocean—issues that have far-reaching consequences for all life on Earth. It also invites us to rethink our relationship with the ocean and to take new, more mindful actions to protect it.

Over the past few decades, art and artists have played an active role in shaping our understanding of climate change through the perspective of Nature. Art has been—and continues to be—instrumental in translating abstract, complex planetary phenomena and large-scale systemic transformations into narrative images, first-person accounts, and indigenous perspectives. These artistic interpretations help us name and absorb the challenges we face. Increasingly, artists have moved beyond their studios to collaborate with experts, policymakers, and scientists, forging a shared horizon where a genuine encounter with nature and its interests becomes possible.

Artists from diverse backgrounds and contexts have developed practices and gestures that respond to the rupture caused the damaging human activity in the seas. Their work paves the way for a new narrative—one shaped by wiser choices and a deeper connection to the mythical dimensions of the ocean, whose echoes reach us from time immemorial. Becoming Ocean invites visitors to immerse themselves, with humility, in these meaningful approaches.

Presented at the Villa Arson in Nice, France, the exhibition features works from the TBA21 collection and from the artist residency program of the Tara Ocean Foundation, in collaboration with the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

A series of events, film screenings, participatory round tables, and other live interactions are launched during the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, to amplify the reach of this project and to enable artists to engage with both the general public, conference representatives and specialized audiences.