Pekka Niskanen is a media artist, video and filmmaker. Mohamed Sleiman Labat uses art and literature to create cross-generational art experiences, aiming to inspire young people to see creative potential in their surroundings, to promote storytelling and the conservation of Sahrawi oral history, and to help develop versatile skills through creative practice. Together on the vessel Pekka and Mohamed will be observing the algae and eutrophication in Baltic Sea. They will be using cameras and underwater microphones. The material found will be used in a PhosFATE film and video installation. There will be a focus on food, bringing people together to connect and learn about the story of phosphate and it’s significance in both Europe and Northern Africa.

“The exhaustion and processing of finite resources such as phosphate is leading to some terrible consequences on humans as well as on the environment. Man-made phosphate processing from agricultural activities ends up in the Baltic Sea in big loads, and is creating eutrophication; one of the biggest problems in the Baltic Sea. Thousands of miles away, a huge source of phosphate rock is located in the desert in the Northern west part of Africa and is causing the dislocation of a Nomadic community.”