36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea

36.5 / a durational performance with the sea

36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea (2013 – present) is a series of nine site-specific performances and video art works that take place in bodies of water around the world. New York-based artist Sarah Cameron Sunde stands in a tidal area for a full cycle, usually 12-13 hours, as water engulfs her body and then reveals it again. The public is invited to participate by joining Sarah in the water and by marking the passing hours from the shore; the local community is involved in all aspects of creating the work.  The project began in Maine 2013 as a response to Hurricane Sandy’s impact on New York City and the parallel that Sunde saw in the the struggle for artists to survive on a daily basis in the city and the struggle of humanity to survive in the face of sea-level rise.

In its current form, each work in the 36.5 series consists of a live performance, event, a time- lapse video, varied ephemera from that specific coastal location, and a long-form cinematic video artwork that is the same length as the performance (12-13 hours). The performance is filmed from multiple perspectives, live-streamed around the world and then edited quickly into its durational form which is then translated into site-specific multi-channel video installations that can be shown in galleries, museums, and projected onto architecture in outdoor spaces.

List of works:

Initial Performance Works:

36.5 / Bass Harbor, Maine, 2013
36.5 / Akumal Bay, Mexico, 2014
36.5 / San Francisco Bay, California, 2014

Full Works (Performance and Durational Video Artworks):

36.5 / North Sea, Netherlands, 2015
36.5 / Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, 2017
36.5 / Bay of All Saints, Brazil, 2019
36.5 / Bodo Inlet, Kenya, 2019

Upcoming Full Works (delayed due to COVID-19):

36.5 / Te Manukanukatanga ō Hoturoa, Aotearoa-New Zealand, 2020– 22
36.5 / New York Estuary, New York City, 2020– 22

For more information, please visit 36pt5 .org.