"Market Stall: Nautical Trade and Nautical Exhibitions"

by Prof Gabriel N. Gee

Abstract:

Maritime museums in port cities are the repository on land of activities taking place at sea. A museum’s collection presents various types of past and present maritime activities, commerce being one of them. The representation of maritime trade depicts a history of connected networks bringing different peoples and cultures into contact with each other across seas and oceans. It casts a reflective light on nautical economics and their histories, considering both the fortunes and hardships that have accompanied the formation of an increasingly interconnected world. In looking at the representation of nautical trade in the exhibits of maritime museums, this talk will explore the manner through which commerce from ancient times to the period of modern globalisation is perceived and comes to inform the present. 

Biography:

Gabriel N. Gee is an art historian, writer and curator, based in Switzerland. He joined Franklin University in 2011, where he teaches contemporary art history and theory. His research interests include the arts of port cities, interconnected global histories, and contemporary artistic research. He edited with Caroline Wiedmer a volume on Maritime Poetics (Transcript 2021). He is the initiator and co-founder of the interdisciplinary study group TETI, (Textures and Experiences of Trans-Industriality), active through workshops, exhibitions, culinary events, and through a press, which recently launched a journal available online and in print: TETI Journal n.1 looked at “Transindustriality” (2024), TETI Journal n.2 (2025) explores the  topic of “Hybrid Marines”.