Rediscussing ¿Lottery of the Sea¿ - A lecture by Hans-Joachim Schramm

The beginning of the ‘Oceanic Age’ is usually dated back to the 15th century when the Portuguese began trading with East Asia across the ocean. While the specifics vary, the ‘Oceanic Age’ has since been characterized by an intricate connection between seaborne trade, global value and production chains and an immense accumulation of wealth; the later proving to be crucial for entrepreneurial and colonial conquest. The lecture —combining a descriptive and an analytical approach— follows this history and links it to Allan Sekula’s investigations of the drastic transformations of the shipping industry in late 20th century and the shift to corporate driven neo-colonialism. It focuses on the developments since the 1960s, and discusses changes in shipbuilding that lead to the expanded quantitative capacities of modern cargo logistics and also highlights the trends and changes in global sea routes, all the while critically unraveling the economic rationals behind these changes.