TBA21-Academy

A contemporary art organization and cultural ecosystem fostering a deeper relationship to the Ocean through the lens of art to inspire care and action

Research Associate on Ocean Law and Policy Analysis

Lead, Deep Sea Mining

• Co-Lead of Culturing the Deep Sea, a TBA21—Academy Program, co-developer for the deep-sea in producing of scientific/legal analytics on policy related interventions, assessing nuances of deep-sea mining, fundraising, capacity building of the civil society various with youth campaigns, NGOs, policy institutions, along with artistic approaches, co-designing of OCEAN/UNI curriculum, research cycle and convenings

• Representing the Academy in international fora and multilateral negotiation (e.g. UNCLOS/International Seabed Authority Council); responsible for policy briefs and legal input to the Academy’s partners/ collaborators within the field of law of the sea and especially, deep sea mining regulations

• Research in rights of nature & representative in Confluence of European Water Bodies

• Specific areas of practice in ocean advocacy, governance and activism ; decolonial practices and indigenous knowledge systems

Events & Conferences

Confluence of European Water Bodies, Intro by Mekhala Dave and Pietro Consolandi for Let’s Save the Seas with Sea Shepard! at Ocean Space, Venice (2024)

Co-organised a workshop with artist Jakob Kukula on Art & Activism: My water is your Water, Limits of Resilience at Symposium Lindabruun (2024)

On Deep Sea Mining for Whose Ocean?, Sustainable Ocean Community, Utrecht University (2024)

Move like the Ocean: A panel discussion, Ocean Space Venice (2024)

Ocean in Us: Rights and Relations, On Curating Berlin Academy, Zürich (2024)

Keynote Speaker, Sea Mediations: Hydro-criticism and Tidal Thinking, Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research, University of Amsterdam

On decolonial water practices for Water Bodies, Room to Bloom for European Alternatives (2023)

Art & Science: Marine Research, Marina Law, and the work of Martina O'Brien for the Midnight Zone Exhibition by Artist Martina O’Brien at Highlanes Gallery, Ireland (2023)

Who Owns the Deep Sea with Mekhala Dave & Pradeep Singh, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz (2023)

Co-organised Deep Sea Youth Symposium, an initiative for Deep Sea Mining youth capacity building event in Kingston that ran parallel to the UN International Seabed Authority, Jamaica (2023)

Co-organised Interdisciplinary Workshop on Underwater Cultural Heritage in the Deep Sea Mining Regulations, Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, University of Southampton (2023)

Co-organised Affirmative Aesthetics: Envisioning Forms and Practices of Relationality, Forms of (More than) Human Relationality, ASCA Workshop, University of Amsterdam (2023)

Co-organised Hydrocommons: Re-imaging and Empowering Watery Worlds, Commoning Collective Care, On-Curating x TBA21 (2023)

Workshop on Planetary Commons by Mekhala Dave, Curatorial Department, Zürich University of the Arts (2023)

Panel on Aesthetics and Law II: Representation, Law & Aesthetic Practices, Law & Society Association Portugal (2022)

Mekhala Dave in conversation with Lucy Finchett-Maddock on Deep Sea Mining, School of Law, History and Social Sciences (2022)

Films & Oceans: Emma Critchley, Wolfson College University of Oxford (2021)

A film screening and panel discussion with the artist Emma Critchley. Panel: Mekhala Dave, Ocean Law & Policy Analyst and Prof James Crabbe, Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College; Panel chair: Dr Kevin Grecksch, Junior Research Fellow and Departmental Lecturer and Course Director in the School of Geography and the Environment.

Deep-Sea Mining, thinking with the Oceans, Art and Law Research Cluster, Department of Law, University of Sussex (2021)

Art as a Transformative Tool for Human Rights, Research Week by Zentrum Fokus Forschung, University of Applied Arts Vienna (Oct 19-21) 2021

“Art’s Transformative Power for Human Rights: Art the Intersection of Law, Policy and Social Justice beyond borders”, co-hosted by Diana Elena Stoica, Human Rights Pulse (2021)

“Working Groups” on Artist Fee and Exhibition Production Contract, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2020)

Modern Spatial Modernities: Mapping the Physical and Psychological World Symposium - University of York (2020-2021)

Identities in Flux: Past, Present and Future of migrant communities across Europe - University College Dublin Humanities Institute, Irish Research Council (2020-2021)

Art as an Effective Tool in Unpacking Law - Jindal Global Law School (2020)

Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues Past, Present and Future - SOAS University London, Royal Anthropology Institute and The British Museum (2020)

Campus de les Arts Platform for Interdisciplinary Artistic Practices - University of Barcelona, Arts Council Cataolonia, EINA School of Design and Art (2019)

Synergies between International and Constitutional Law on Human Rights - Autonomous University of Barcelona (2019)

Global Contemporary Research Group, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh (2017)

Undulating Currents, co-curated by Brooklyn J. Pakathi and Mekhala Dave, Curated by Brooklyn J. Pakathi and Mekhala Dave, and designed by Maria Rudakova, all students of Die Angewandte — Undulating Currents is a research-led exhibition that asks the question: In the face of our current ecological crisis, shaped by both historical colonial legacies and contemporary capitalist impulses, how do we begin to engage with our material world?

The exhibition focuses on the materiality of oil and water—two of the most exploited resources. Undulating Currents brings together international and local Black diasporan, ecofeminist, and queer* artists to explore layers of decolonial perspectives, hidden narratives, and aesthetic sensibilities that liquefy place-based struggles. Originating from a commitment to celebrating Black life, Undulating Currents crystallises moments of resistance by merging storytelling and lived experiences. It opens up possibilities for world-making that interweaves the past and present, aiming toward a collective future.

Extensively, it serves as a site for the exchange of knowledge, exploring the intersection of art, mind, and matter through the juxtaposition of two distinct yet interconnected resources: oil and water. Undulating Currents combines artistic practice, scholarly research, and curatorial practice to address the interconnections of environmental and social injustices.

The exhibition is framed as part of Mekhala Dave’s doctoral research titled ‘Ocean in Us: Relations and Rights’ at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, which employs an epistemological approach, integrating decolonial thinking and situated knowledge to weave a kaleidoscopic tapestry of fluid encounters through collaborative and participatory forms of action in re-thinking ocean stewardship.