Cruising Taxes

Idea by

Marine Lemarié, Nicolas Stephan

Distant Realities

Innsbruck, Austria

DISTANT REALITIES understands design and architecture as a medium to unveil hidden realities in an entangled world governed by intricate systems of rules and obligations. Our work relies deeply on our interest in ecology, politics, economy, and technology and can be described as research-based, aiming to give alternative realities to current worldly situations. We merge the latest digital techniques with conceptual thoughts to create narratives in which unseen realities become visible.

Call for ideas 2021

Commercial vessels registered to the Marshall Islands as flags of convenience should legally become national floating possessions, so ships can actually be an extension of the climate-threatened Marshall Islands.

# Environment

New alliances

In a response to urgent sea level rise, this proposal questions the modern policy of national space. Where a country’s identity can disappear rapidly due to natural causes, it is important to start questioning the future of the displaced population. Rising sea levels will completely submerge the Marshall Islands by the year 2055. While the nation currently has approximately 181 km2 of natural land, the 3636 registered vessels that occupy the majority of its commercial trade, create an occupiable space that covers 30% of its mass. This way, the currently 3636 registered ships would become part of the nation and used by the population throughout and post-climate change. The banner of the Marshallese flag will change under these circumstances and with it a new definition of their coast by the creation of these man-made land masses supported solely by the efforts of its own economic growth.
Watch the movie: https://vimeo.com/453757036

City on boats

Fields on boats

If every Marshallese registered vessel had its own 200nm sea zone, the EEZ per average cargo ship of 431014,5 km2 would be reduced and the Marshall Islands could see themselves being in control of the entirety of the current international water’s ocean bed, body, and surface.

Planet Earth=510 million km2
Ocean= 360 million km2
High Seas=260 million km2
EEZ per average cargo ship= 431014,5 km2

In a project aiming to give each ship its own Exclusive Economic Zone, the results are striking. You would need 835 ships with an EEZ area totaling 431014,5 km2 per ship (200nm radius defined by UNCLOS) to fill the entire area of the ocean. If you remove the existing EEZs, 591 ships would suffice.