The project NEW ADRIATIC ATLAS is a collaborative endeavor of the APSS Institute creative team from Montenegro with our partners Moderni u Beogradu from Serbia.

It brings together architects, researchers, and artists to create acomprehensive Atlas – unveiling the hidden Anthropocene, shifting geographies, and other human interventions beneath the surface of the Adriatic Sea. This innovative Atlas will not only serve as a repository of knowledge but also as a work of art, combining meticulous research with artistic expression to engage a wide audience and foster a greater understanding of the region's heritage, environmental challenges, and human impact on the landscape. 

Furthermore, the Atlas is envisioned as a tool for raising awareness, inspiring future researchers and artists, and fostering dialogue on topics ranging from heritage preservation to sustainable development.

Origins of New Adriatic Atlas

The idea behind the project New Adriatic Atlas lays in the results from the Creative Europe project the New Temporality, that APSS participates in. Within this project, students from the Master studio at the Faculty of Architecture Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, led by Dijana Vucinic and APSS Institute, conducted research on the Anthropocene and human influence on the Adriatic basin. This research, presented through a series of data-rich maps, highlighted various aspects of human intervention within the sea, including shipwrecks, infrastructure, and protected areas (http://www.discoveradriatic.me/). 

In a later stage it emerged into an exhibition called AT THE BEACH performed at Mies van der Rohe Pavillion in Barcelona, in February 2024. The installation was a part of the Pavilion Cross-Occupancies' collective exhibition, organized under the New Temporality Programme funded by Creative Europe. 

AT THE BEACH took over the large pond of the Mies van der Rohe pavilion and have invited visitors to deep dive and discover the secrets of the Adriatic. It hasshowcased data on human influence in the Adriatic that is not typically perceived while gazing at the open sea. Each seashell was titled and represented one of these interventions/interactions of humans and nature (shipwreck, crashed plane, electricity infrastructure, oil or gas platform, natural reserve, etc.). The seashell also carried a barcode that could take visitors to our website created for the exhibition: www.discoveradriatic.me, showing the position and story about the intervention - carefully curated by the APSS team.

Project team

Dijana Vučinić, Ana Dobrašinović, Luka Bošković, Slavica Danilović, Jelena Vućić, Nikolina Đukanović