In Therapy with North Sea, Solmaz Farhang
Let’s meet up with the North Sea; sit together, breathe together, and reflect on our relationship: the love and affection we share, the anger and frustrations we face.
In Therapy with North Sea at Humber Street Gallery invites the audience to an unconventional encounter with the North Sea and an exploration of our coexistence.
The North Sea is home to an incredible diversity of species and organisms, with its coasts sustaining countless human communities. The coastline is in constant flux, a shifting landscape that impacts our lives profoundly. Where the North Sea ends and the land begins is a question with no clear answer. It is a frontier and a crossroads, a service station for travelers and thoroughfare for expansion and migration. A sea with a fraught history of war, trade and industry which now finds itself subject to numerous environmental changes as a consequence of the global climate crisis; all whilst being an entity by which people have and do live out domestic lives.
How can we engage with such co-existing histories and realities in order to adapt and transform when our cherished memories and places are at risk? As the North Sea increasingly becomes a place for research, natural energy, and conversations around climate change, what do we truly mean by gaining resilience?
In Therapy with North Sea delves into these pressing questions through witty and participatory multimedia installations. It speculates on our future and seeks to prepare our collective imagination to dive forwards, and perhaps into, the North Sea.
Delivered in partnership with University of Hull’s Energy and Environment Institute. Find out more
Upcoming related events
In Therapy with North Sea: Exhibition launch
Thursday 13 February 2025
6-9pm
Humber Street Gallery
Free, no booking required
Be one of the first to discover In Therapy with North Sea by Solmaz Farhang at our launch! The evening will include music from Two Rivers (Lisa J Coates and Graziana Presicce).
Mezzo-soprano Lisa J Coates and pianist Graziana Presicce are multi-disciplinary artists who combine classical music in live performance with spoken word and visual art, as well as undertaking regular recital and outreach work. They champion the work of women composers, both historic and contemporary, and focus on making music accessible to all.
A key element of the duo’s work is using classical music as a social tool and using it to engage communities with topics such as climate change.
They are currently collaborating on From Noah to Now with the University of Hull, in a side-by-side project featuring school children from Hull and NE Lincolnshire, culminating in a performance of Britten’s opera Noye’s Fludde (March 2025).
Recent projects include a primary-school song-writing workshop funded by Hull Maritime, in collaboration with local composer Dawn Walters, and an artist commission in response to the theme of Hull and flooding, in a project called Risky Cities, by the University of Hull. As a duo, they have worked with organisations such as Mahogany Opera, dementia charity Lost Chord, Ferens Art Gallery, Sewerby Hall, Hull Minster, Howdenshire Music and Hornsea Music Society, and individually have performed internationally, recorded for labels such as Naxos and Delphian, and appeared live on radio and television. They are working towards their first release in 2025.
Online Artist Talk: Solmaz Farhang
Friday 4 April 2025
6-7:30pm
Online
Free, booking required
Solmaz Farhang is an artist and researcher based in London. She works at the intersection of art, design and technology, developing tools and methods for understanding socio-logical relationships (the relationships between humans and nature).
Solmaz works across multiple disciplines to create artwork, including photography, video and multimedia installations.
Discover more about Solmaz’s practice via this Online Artist Talk, and find out more about the ideas behind ‘In Therapy with North Sea’.
Thursday Late: Ben Adamson
Thursday 10 April 2025
7-9pm
Humber Street Gallery
Free, booking required
Ben Adamson is a multimedia and sound artist specialising in multisensory installations that explore the intersections of performance, installation, and soundscape design. His work encourages audience participation, transforming them into active performers and listeners. Ben seeks to provoke and challenge perceptions, finding beauty in contrasting and harsh sounds to invite reflection on space, objects, and theme. Provocation is of the utmost importance throughout Ben’s work with the intention of asking questions to the listener. Another area of his practice focuses on the intersection of playfulness and communication and involves probing the boundaries between performance, interaction and listening within his installation work. More recently Ben’s practice has engaged with co-creative process and community engaged projects focusing on mental health in local communities.
Talking to the Tide
40 mins
Talking to the Tide is a participatory piece of performance of art – a collaboration between audience and performer. The audience are invited to become active creators, writers and artists in this piece by making their mark on Ben’s skin. Anyone who wishes to share their sentiment or message with the audience may whisper it in Ben’s ear and he will share it with everyone else. Periodically, the ‘tide will go out’ and some of the marks and messages will be washed away.
Share as wholeheartedly as you will – secrets, thoughts, feelings, fears – in the knowledge that all is impermanent and will be washed away eventually…
Soundscape: 5 Minute loop of Drowning Music II
Panel Discussion
Thursday 24 April 2025
6:30-8:30pm
Humber Street Gallery
Free, booking required
Bringing together a panel of artists and researchers this round table will explore creative responses to the climate crises, asking ‘What role can the artist play in addressing such challenges that play out simultaneously in global and hyper local contexts?’
Exhibition Tour
Wednesday 5 March & 30 April 2025
2-2:30pm
Humber Street Gallery
Date
14 February-18 May 2025
Location
Humber Street Gallery
Upcoming events

Photo by Solmaz Farhang. Photography assistant: Farhang Tahmasebi
In Therapy with North Sea, Solmaz Farhang
I'm Sorry, Annabel McCourt, Barnsley Civic 2023. Image courtesy of the artist and Andrew Dunkley
I'm Sorry, Annabel McCourt

Humber Street Gallery and University of Hull Climate Public Response 2024/25

Thursday Lates: Emily Gray and Jamal Sterrett, 2022. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery © Luke Hallett
Thursday Lates

Model City workshop, Absolutely Cultured © Thomas Arran