Janis Schroeder

The three-channel video installation Unleveled Sea explores the shifting grounds of the Black Sea—terrains that function both as habitats and as passageways. It is a transit zone in transition, a setting of intertwined histories within a complex geopolitical landscape. Filmed along the coasts of Bulgaria and Georgia, as well as aboard a ferry linking the two countries, the work focuses on animality and the presence of the non-human within human-shaped environments. The title Unleveled Sea refers to agitated, inscrutable waters, to the turbulences of our times, and to the imbalances among the different protagonists it depicts—whether between neighboring countries, between the cows transported on the ferry and the humans responsible for them, or between the artist behind the camera and the people shown on screen. The sea level, or horizon, often anchors the framing of the landscape and becomes a connecting element between the different parts of the Black Sea. The project emerges from the artist’s ongoing research into the socially and politically produced histories that shape the geography of the Black Sea region, with Bulgaria as point of departure. After a phase of extensive archival and library research the artist explored cities like Varna, Burgas, Batumi and Poti as a pedestrian and travelled as a single passenger on the ferry. This meandering process, guided by unforeseen discoveries and surprising encounters, lies at the core of the artistic methods and leads to the filmic process. In Unleveled Sea, the artist investigates perspectives, relations, and sensitivities within the vast, fluid space of negotiation that is the Black Sea. Approaching this space in its plurality means moving beyond geographical boundaries into a layered, ongoing artistic process—shaped by the artist’s own background, his investigations, the encounters and discoveries that continually redefine his relationship to the world and to others in unfamiliar contexts.