[photo G.Lupinacci/Raw-News]
On the 8th of October, CO>SEA team – Chiara Certomà (Sapienza), Federico Fornaro and Giuseppe Lupinacci (Raw-News), Paolo Melodia (Altura Vela) is presenting the PartArt4OW Sailing Lab at the international Pianeta Mare Film Festival 2026 at the Federico II University in Naples.
How can we study and tell the story of the sea through the lens of a camera? What can we learn from the communities that live and work along the Mediterranean coast? And what roadmap for research and action can young people envision, starting from their own connection to the sea?
This session invites young people to retrace—via an interactive online map—the journey of the SailingLab, a mobile research and audiovisual production laboratory. In the summer of 2026, the lab sailed from Anzio to Barcelona across the western Mediterranean as part of the European project “PartArt4OW – Participatory Art for Ocean and Water.” Through screenings of short documentary clips filmed during the voyage, participants will discover landscapes, stories, and encounters with researchers, artists, fishermen, activists, and maritime workers.
These films will serve as a springboard to explore major challenges facing marine ecosystems—such as pollution, resource exploitation, and environmental change—while also highlighting the many positive examples of collaboration, creativity, and ocean stewardship emerging from coastal communities. During the session, participants will help create a map of potential and necessary future explorations of the sea and coastline, grounded in their own direct relationship with the marine environment.
The event will alternate between viewing, dialogue, and participatory activities: young people will be encouraged to watch the videos with the eyes of “ocean explorers,” sharing their impressions, questions, and ideas on how cinema can serve as a tool for understanding the sea and raising awareness about its protection. The goal is to introduce young people to ocean literacy through accessible, engaging language, showing how scientific research, art, and audiovisual storytelling can work together to foster a more conscious relationship with the Mediterranean and collectively envision the sea’s future. The initiative is part of the outreach activities of the European project PartArt4OW (https://partart4ow.eu/).