floating laboratory of action & Theory

An international experimental platform aiming to generate, pluralize and popularize social-scientific knowledge of the seas through research, teaching, public campaigns and community work.

Our hope is to offer a continuous critical commentary on the perils of the current, worldwide domination of territorial and terrestrial frameworks. We take seriously the idea of “floating,” whether in terms of the state of contemporary forms of mobility and rootlessness at sea or by way of a series of "floating conversations" over the many past and present challenges as well as the creative opportunities for action and theory provided by seas, shorelines and waterways.

Bringing together academics, artists, activists and others, FLOATS rotates through various seas, islands and port cities. Having started first with the Mediterranean, docking in the island of Lesvos, it then moved through the Atlantic and stopped at the island of New York City.

We hope to continue to land periodically at maritime sites to engage communities and host open meetings, foster research, promote creative engagements, and raise public awareness around this last and now ever-threatened terraqueous global commons.