A Gathering at the Edge of the World
The Atlantic Institute of Oceanic Psyche is proud to announce its first major international conference, 'Tides of Thought: Convergences in Oceanic Consciousness.' Scheduled for September 2024, this gathering will take place on the volcanic island of São Miguel in the Azores, a location emblematic of the dynamic interface between land and deep ocean. The conference aims to create a fertile meeting ground for the diverse minds currently exploring, from different angles, the relationship between psyche and sea. We have invited leading oceanographers, neuroscientists, philosophers, artists, indigenous knowledge holders, and writers to engage in a week of dialogue, workshops, and shared experiential fieldwork.
Themes and Keynote Speakers
The conference is structured around four flowing themes, each addressed by a luminary in their field.
- Theme 1: The Deep Time Mind. Keynote by geologist and author Dr. Mariana Trench, who will explore how the ocean's geological history is inscribed in human neural architecture and myth. Her lecture is titled 'Sediments of Sentience: From Hydrothermal Vents to the Hippocampus.'
- Theme 2: Sonic Atmospheres. Keynote by acoustic ecologist Dr. Finn Wavecrest, presenting his lifelong work cataloguing 'Oceanic Soundscapes and Their Effect on Dream States.' This will be accompanied by an immersive auditory experience in a lakeside venue.
- Theme 3: The Intelligence of the Others. Keynote by cetacean cognition specialist Dr. Anil Sur, who will present groundbreaking findings on 'The Narrative Structures in Humpback Whale Song: A Potential Linguistic Psyche.'
- Theme 4: Art as a Plumb Line. Keynote by installation artist Maya Reef, who creates submerged sculptures that interact with marine life. Her talk, 'Making With the Tide: Art in Dialogue with a Sentient Environment,' will challenge notions of human-centric creation.
Interactive Format and Experiential Sessions
Rejecting the standard lecture-hall format, Tides of Thought is designed as a participatory immersion. Alongside paper presentations and panels, the schedule includes:
- Blue Mind Workshops: Guided sessions in breathwork, sensory awareness, and floating meditation in the natural rock pools of Ponta da Ferraria.
- Field Collaborations: Small groups will embark on daily excursions—whale watching with a cognitive ethologist, coastal foraging with a marine ethnobotanist, or night-sky observation with an astrophysicist discussing the cosmic ocean.
- The Narrative Cove: An evening space for sharing stories, dreams, and personal encounters with the ocean, recorded for the institute's oral history archive.
- Poster Sessions on the Shore: Research posters will be displayed in an open-air pavilion overlooking the Atlantic, fostering conversation to the sound of breaking waves.
Goals and Expected Outcomes
The primary goal of Tides of Thought is to weave a stronger, more cohesive interdisciplinary network. We hope to identify common research questions, spark unexpected collaborations, and draft a collectively authored 'Azores Manifesto' outlining ethical principles and future directions for the study of the Oceanic Psyche. Furthermore, the conference will result in a curated anthology of proceedings that blend academic paper, personal essay, and artistic portfolio. By situating our gathering on an island in the mid-Atlantic, we physically and symbolically place ourselves in the connective tissue between continents, embodying the conference's spirit of convergence and exploration of the mental spaces between known shores.