In these first days of the new year, we turn our gaze to Santander on Spain’s northern coast, to the sea-facing windows of Centro Botín. One of the art world’s most influential activist duos, Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe), confronts us with an ecological memory loss through their installation “Waves Lost at Sea” (Las olas perdidas). The exhibition is not merely an aesthetic experience; it is a profound research project that pursues waves forever vanished due to seabed dredging, port expansions, and industrial interventions.
Anatomy of Invisible Waves
Cooking Sections are known for practices that previously removed farmed salmon from Tate’s menu and established official complaint mechanisms on marine pollution. This time, turning their focus to Santander’s famous surf culture and disappearing coastal ecosystems, the duo—alongside curator Bárbara Rodríguez—explores the following concepts:
Spatial Cocoon: The museum’s vast windows are enveloped in a white fabric structure, isolating the space from the outside world. Suspended in the centre are 11 flexible, spring-like forms representing the 11 lost waves.
Invasion of Sound: Musician Duval Timothy has composed 11 thirty-minute cyclical sound pieces, each examining the history of a lost wave. These sounds confine the boundless expanse of the sea within the gallery walls.
Scientific Collaboration: Working with biologists and engineers from the University of Cantabria (GeoOcean project), they have documented the stories of waves that have quietly vanished alongside still-living iconic ones such as “The Giant Cow.”
Rethinking the Monument
The exhibition positions itself as a “monument to nature” in opposition to traditional monuments of political power. At a time when local activists are seeking to register seven iconic waves as “intangible cultural heritage,” Cooking Sections amplifies this struggle with the voice of art.
“The horizon line, oyster shells, or the colour of salmon… For years we have been trying to read the landscape. This exhibition is a continuation of that journey; we are trying to read the waves.” — Daniel Fernández Pascual
Until 1 March, this exhibition in Santander’s enchanting bay invites viewers into a reflection that is both melancholic and action-oriented.
