Conference
Addressing Ocean and Space Pollution Through the Arts: New Considerations on Indigenous Knowledges and Collaborative Practices
A conference organized by the ERC-funded research project OSPAPIK, the Centre des métiers d’art de la Polynésie française (CMAPf) and the Université de la Polynésie française (UPF, Vice-Présidence Dialogue Sciences, Cultures & Sociétés)
26-28 October 2026
What is the role played by contemporary Indigenous artists and non-Indigenous artists engaging with Indigenous knowledges in making ocean and space pollution visible? How are Indigenous knowledges, know-how, histories, and memories mobilised to address current environmental crises? How do Indigenous artists and artists working with Indigenous communities talk about, classify, and use different types of waste?
Examining together ocean and space pollution is crucial not only to take into accounts the specifics of Indigenous epistemologies, ontologies and concepts but also for the sustainable future of the planet.
This conference co-organised by OSPAPIK, the CMAPf (French Polynesian School of Art, Craft and Design) and UPF will explore innovative approaches to pollution, indigenous knowledges, and the arts.
We are particularly interested in focusing on the materiality and the disintegration process of the waste and on the relationship that people have with waste. Our aim is also to investigate how creative and artistic expressions allow the artists themselves, scientists, expedition project organisers, and audiences to better understand how marine ecosystems and (outer) space are impacted by pollution. Finally, with this conference we want to discuss comparatively affective, professional, sensorial, and historical relationships to marine, nuclear, and space debris and waste, through an analysis of Indigenous artistic practices and non-Indigenous practices engaging with Indigenous knowledges. We are interested in papers focusing on Oceania and French Guiana. If you would like to give a paper on a different area, please contact us beforehand.
We invite papers that explore the above research questions. We are particularly, but not exclusively, interested in papers discussing the above research questions and:
– star knowledges
– light and space pollution
– nuclear and permanent waste
– critical reflections on deep time and long distance
– multiscalar approaches
– macro- and micro-pollution
– the deep sea and/or deep-sea mining
– the above topics and their relationship to decolonial ecology
– the relationship between ocean monitoring and space technologies
– how Indigenous cosmovisions influence contemporary non-Indigenous artists’ ways of thinking, talking or creating when they work on pollution
– dialogues between the arts and science
– artistic practices conducted on boats and expeditions
– art and science
– data visualisation
We are warmly inviting Indigenous knowledge holders, artists and writers who engage with the topics of the conference to send proposals or contact us to participate in roundtable/discussion formats. There will be opportunities to engage with students from the Centre des métiers d’art de la Polynésie française and the University of French Polynesia.
This conference will be held in person. However, if we receive interest from people who would like a follow-up conference to be organised online, another online conference or symposium might take place in 2027.
We are also inviting posters on our conference topics.
Please send your abstracts (250-300 word) in English or French, along with a short biography, to:
Estelle Castro-Koshy: estelle.castrokoshy@univ-brest.fr
Tokainiua Devatine: tdevatine@gmail.com
Gabrielle Guilcher: gabrielle.guilcher@univ-brest.fr
Géraldine Le Roux: geraldine.leroux@univ-brest.fr
Due date for abstracts: 15 January 2026
Acceptance will be sent: 15 March 2026
Due date for papers (we will make them available to panel/roundtable participants and chairs): 8 September 2026
Confirmed Speakers
Tokainiua Devatine
Annette Lee
Romaine Moreton
Viri Taimana
Confirmed speakers for a roundtable on nuclear tests in the Pacific:
Titaua Peu
Chantal T. Spitz
Scientific committee
Estelle Castro-Koshy, OSPAPIK, UBO, JCU
Albert Constant-Piot, OSPAPIK, UBO
Tokainiua Devatine, CMAPf
Duane Hamacher, University of Melbourne
Temiti Lehartel, RMIT, Université de Montpellier
Karine Frogier Leocadie, UPF
Géraldine Le Roux, OSPAPIK, UBO, JCU
Annette Lee, OSPAPIK, UBO
Clémence Maillochon, OSPAPIK, UBO
Arnaud Morvan, OSPAPIK, UBO
Mirose Paia, UPF
Titaua Porcher, UPF
Teriitutea Quesnot, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, IUF
Lovaina Rochette, UPF
Christophe Rulhes, OSPAPIK, UBO
Viri Taimana, CMAPf
Tonyo Toomaru, UPF
Goenda Turiano-Reea, UPF
Conference organisers
Estelle Castro-Koshy, OSPAPIK, UBO, JCU
Tokainiua Devatine, CMAPf
Géraldine Le Roux, OSPAPIK, UBO, JCU
Karine Frogier Leocadie, UPF
Call for paper PDF : CFP_Ospapik_Conference_2026