Rijeka’s underwater world, courtesy of the artist
From October 17 to November 7, 2025, Polish-British artist Kasia Molga will present her exhibition Petroentanglements: How to Be Present for Aqua-life at Galerija Filodrammatica (Korzo 28/1, Rijeka).
Presented installation is the result of Molga’s artistic residency in Rijeka as part of the international project S+T+ARTS4WaterII. During the residency, she explored the complex relationships between humans, marine life, and the petrochemical industry, which has been present in this region since the second half of the 19th century.
Join us for a talk about the exhibition and Molga’s experiences during the Rijeka residency, on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 7 p.m., followed by the exhibition opening at 8 p.m.
Gallery opening hours:
Monday – Friday 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. | 5 – 8 p.m.
Saturday 5 – 8 p.m.
– closed on Sundays and public holidays
Video o Molginoj umjetničkoj rezidenciji u Rijeci, autor Ivan Marević
Petroentanglements invites audiences to descend into the submerged ecologies of the Adriatic Sea, where traces of human industry merge with marine life. Developed through scuba dives and underwater fieldwork near post-industrial sites around Rijeka, Croatia, it explores how petrochemical residues continue to shape aquatic ecosystems. It is both observation and meditation — on toxicity, resilience, and the ethics of coexistence — reflecting on oil not only as a pollutant but as a material that binds human and non-human futures.
“Petro–” comes from the Ancient Greek pétra (πέτρα), meaning rock or stone, the root of “petroleum” — petra + elaion (oil) — “rock oil” formed from ancient organic matter compressed through geological time. It speaks of deep time, transformation, and the mineral origins of both life and fuel. Today, “petro–” signifies the vast network of fossil-based energy, extractive capitalism, and petrochemical dependency that sustains our material and digital worlds.
“Entanglement,” from Middle English tanglen and Old Norse töngull — meaning seaweed, something that clings or intertwines — evokes the inseparable relationships between human and non-human systems. Together, PETROENTANGLEMENTS suggests a condition where geological, biological, and technological lives are woven into a shared fabric of coexistence and consequence.
The installation includes analogue holography, synchronised video works, drawings, and a manifesto for underwater artistic observation. The holograms — photographs of submerged industrial remnants and marine organisms captured with red laser light — reveal the tension between visibility and concealment. Like the sea’s surface, they are transparent yet opaque: visible only when illuminated from a specific angle. This mirrors spectrometric techniques used to detect underwater toxins and symbolises the limits of human perception within polluted waters.
»This opacity extends beyond the material. Around the decommissioned refinery near Rijeka, access to the seabed has been repeatedly denied by port authorities. Such refusals perpetuate institutional blindness, keeping contamination unseen and unacknowledged. The sea becomes a site of enforced invisibility — political as well as ecological.«
The absence of transparency fuels myth-making. In place of open data, stories emerge — of glowing waters, monstrous growths, uncanny recoveries. These myths express a collective longing to understand what lies beneath, turning speculation into an act of imagination and resistance.
Two synchronised video works unfold this dialogue. One depicts organisms Molga encountered while diving — feather duster worms, brittle stars, starfish, squid eggs, and sea anemones — modelled in Blender as poetic bioindicators. The other shows AI training on data from her dives, attempting to recognise visual cues of toxicity. When the AI fails, the first video morphs into surreal forms — imagined creatures that might or might not exist. A soundtrack of underwater recordings and voices from a roundtable at the Natural History Museum in Rijeka — petroleum workers, biologists, ecologists, divers, and citizens — weaves human memory with the living sea.
As with much of Molga’s work, PETROENTANGLEMENTS remains an evolving inquiry. It proposes new ways of sensing the Anthropocene through immersive artistic research — merging technology, biology, and empathy. It invites us to be present for aqua life, to listen where access is denied, and to recognise the fragile beauty that persists within damaged waters.
Creative / Art Lead and Scuba Diving: Kasia Molga
Filming, Sound and Editing: Ivo Marevich
Creative Tech: Andrey Chugonov
Project Management: Henry Maddicott
Support: Davor Delija
Rijeka’s underwater world, courtesy of the artist
Surreal forms created by data interpretation by AI, courtesy of the artist
Funded by the European Commission, the S+T+ARTS4WaterII (Science, Technology and Arts for Water Management) project engages in deep interdisciplinary collaboration, leveraging creative artistic processes combined with cutting-edge technological and scientific research. Europe’s ports face complex environmental and societal challenges—pollution, ecosystem degradation, climate change impacts, and socioeconomic pressures. Recognizing ports as crucial gateways connecting people, resources, and regions, the project addresses these challenges through art-driven innovation, digital solutions (AI, IoT, sensor platforms, drones, autonomous vehicles), and creative community engagements, aiming to enhance circularity, resilience, and ecological sustainability of port ecosystems.
The project involves partnerships with renowned European institutions including VITO and GLUON from Belgium, WAAG from The Netherlands, TBA21 from Spain, Kunst Haus Wien from Austria, the Camargo Foundation from France, OGR Torino from Italy, PiNA from Slovenia, UCD from Ireland, and Drugo More from Croatia. Together they form an ambitious programme of residencies, collaborative workshops, public showcases, and exhibitions aimed at reaching thousands across Europe. More information: starts.eu
STARTS4waterII is co-funded by the European Union under the STARTS – Science, Technology and Arts initiative of DG CNECT (GA no. LC-02629312.). Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or DG CNECT. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Project is co-financed by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of Drugo more and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
☛ Galerija Filodrammatica, Korzo 28/1, Rijeka
ARTIST TALK:
Friday, 17 October, at 7 PM
EXHIBITION OPENING:
Friday, 17 October, at 8 PM
GALLERY OPENING HOURS:
Monday – Friday 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. | 5 – 8 p.m.
Saturday 5 – 8 p.m.
(closed on Sundays and public holidays; contact us to arrange another time of your visit)
KASIA MOLGA
