A World of Water

Please note that this exhibition has now closed. It took place from 15 March to 8 August 2025.

A day at the seaside or rain at Wimbledon. So much of our shared experience of the British summer involves water. But what would the world be like without water, or more critically, without our seas and oceans and all the lifeforce within it? The Sainsbury Centre aims to unlock a sense of urgency, recognising that the precarious nature of our waters, and possible geopolitical conflicts caused by them, will be as significant in this century as oil was in the 20^th.

A World of Water brought together works by British and international artists from the last 250 years who have all offered a unique perspective of evolving marine ecosystems and oceanic habitats. Taking the North Sea and the historical relationship between Norfolk and the Netherlands as its starting point, the exhibition looked at the human impact on the sea.

The exhibition encouraged visitors to understand the complexity of sea and marine life, whilst encouraging a collective, global effort to mitigate the impacts of climate change and support action to restore marine ecosystems.

Featuring artworks by Maggi Hambling (b.1945), Eva Rothschild (b.1971), Julian Charrière (b.1987), John Crome (1768–1821), Ólafur Elíasson (b.1967), Josh Kline (b.1979), George Vincent (1796–1832), Hendricus Theodorus Wijdeveld (1885–1987), Vibeke Mascini (1989), and many more, A World of Water delved into humanity’s profound and intricate connection with the sea, raising pivotal questions about the world’s governments’ responses to climate change, coastal erosion, and environmental degradation.

Curated by John Kenneth Paranada.

Supported by: Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant, The Dutch Embassy, Art Fund, John Ellerman Foundation, Hudson Architects, FITT Signs & Graphics. 

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Abraham Susenier, Aert van der Neer, Anastasia Eggers, Andreas Cellarius, Andrew Watkinson, Athanasius Kircher, Arieh Frosh & Ed Compson, Bonaventura Peeters the Elder, Boris Maas, Captain Greville Collins, Cian Dayrit, Claire Cansick, Cornelis Vermeulen, David Scott, De Onkruidenier, Eva Rothschild, Gerard Van Keulen, George Vincent, Hendrick van Anthonissen, Hendricus Theodorus Wijdeveld, J.M.W. Turner, Jacob Van Ruisdael, Jan Eric Visser, Jayne Ivimey, James Stark, Jodocus Hondius, John Crome, John Sell Cotman, John Speed, Josh Kline, Julian Charrière, Julian Perry, Kenneth Fagg, Koen Taselaar, Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, Ludolf Backhuysen, Maggi Hambling, Margaret Mellis, Nabuurs&VanDoorn, Nicolas Deshayes, Olafur Eliasson, Owen Yalandja, Pam Debenham, Pieter Goos, Preston Singletary, Robert Dudley, Robert Ladbrooke, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sebastian Münster, Studio Above&Below, Studio Makkink & Bey, Tony Petruccelli, Trevor Shimizu, Vibeke Mascini, Vivienne Asya Koorland, Willem Van de Velde I, Willem Van de Velde II

A World of Water was part of a six-month season of interlinked exhibitions and events that explore the question Can the Seas Survive Us?

Images from top: Sebastian Munster (1488–1552), Geographia, 1540. Courtesy of the Sunderland Collection; Maggi Hambling, Erosion, 2022, oil on Canvas. Copyright Maggi Hambling.