Celebrate Our Oceans: Join the Festival of Ideas in Delhi Focused on Ocean Conservation

Time of India

23-05-2025

The Festival of Ideas in Delhi, titled 'We Are The Ocean', is taking place at the Alliance Française de Delhi and will run until May 25. The event, organised by the French Institute in India, focuses on the ocean and its role in maintaining the planet's balance.
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The festival features art installations, films, panel talks, and VR experiences that explore the link between people and the sea. Highlights include artworks such as 'Tidal Echoes
'
and 'Floating Cities', and films like
The Plankton Ballet
. These works reflect on the changes affecting marine life, including rising sea levels and pollution.
The month-long programme has been brought together by the French Institute in India in collaboration with the Alliance Française network, the French Development Agency (AFD- Agence Française de Développement), Dakshin Foundation and Mongabay India, with the support of The Environmentalist Foundation of India, Tara Ocean Foundation, Nausicaá, IFREMER, and Oceanopolis.
Nine panel discussions, led by the Dakshin Foundation, bring together voices from India's coastal areas.
They focus on ocean-related social, ecological, and political issues. One of the first panels in Delhi called for fair and localised marine conservation efforts. Damien Syed, Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Embassy of France in India, said: 'With The Festival of Ideas - We Are the Ocean, France reaffirms its commitment to making the ocean a shared global resource and a driver of Indo-French cooperation.
Bringing together experts, artists and citizens, We Are the Ocean adopts a truly multidisciplinary approach to raise awareness about and work towards ocean action in the run-up to UNOC3.'
The programme is supported by several Indian and French organisations. It connects experts, artists, and the public to share knowledge and ideas. Events in Delhi, Goa, Chennai, and Pondicherry explore tourism, plastic pollution, marine biodiversity, and the impact of rising sea levels. Workshops, poetry sessions, and upcycling activities also allow visitors to engage creatively. Visitors can contribute messages at an installation titled
My Letter to UNOC
, ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference in June.
The gallery space becomes a poetic journey through the many faces of the sea—its depths, its shores, and its surface. In 10 chapters, the exhibition explores the ocean's environmental, societal, and emotional significance through large-scale photographs, video projections, soundscapes, and interactive installations, including VR experiences.
The festival offers a space to learn, reflect, and discuss the future of our oceans. It encourages cooperation and continued action to protect marine ecosystems and communities.