Blubber Town

Blubber Town examines the entanglement of cultural heritage, ecological colonization, and marine-related folklore through the lens of centuries-long Dutch whaling history. 

Beginning in the 17th century, Dutch whalers established whaling stations like Smeerenburg in Arctic areas, transforming this pristine natural environment into a bloody commercial hunting centre. This process of ecological colonization gave rise to the mythic “Blubber Town,” an imagined metropolis shaped by colonial ambition.

Yet before whales became commodities in a global economy, they were revered as mystical beings, inspiring folklore, beliefs, and myths across various cultures. These narratives range from the whalebone architecture with magic power to the sea monsters of medieval texts; from the whale origin myths to whale related cosmologies. However, since the 17th century, these pluralistic knowledge systems have been increasingly marginalized amidst the global expansion of colonialism and the rise of capitalist modernity, subsequently excluded from the Western-centric frameworks of dominant epistemologies.

Drawing inspiration from these marginalized narratives and knowledge, this project seeks to reimagine the narrative of Blubber Town from the perspectives of decolonizing nature and envisioning post-human worlds.

Visual artist Jun Zhang’s (China/Netherlands) practice, which he describes as Imaginal Ethno-Cosmology, lies at the intersection of comparative anthropology, speculative ethnography, and cosmological reimagination. Jun uses fiction, installation and film to tell the story between people and nature.