Marea is a 6,600km long fibre optic transatlantic cable that links Virginia Beach (USA) and Bilbao (Spain). It is owned and funded by Facebook & Microsoft. The maximum through put of MAREA is 160 terabits per second. Microsoft claims that it has the capacity equivalent to streaming 71 million HD videos at the same time, or 16 million times faster than an average home internet connection.
To celebrate the arrival of little Marea in 2018, Agnès de Cayeux invited us to spend a week at her termination point, at the Arrietara-Sopelana-Bilbao beach. At low-tide we heard a conference on John Watkins Brett, the inventer of the submarine cable, by Tales Blasco, we were serenaded behind the dunes by Docteur No (violon, theremin), Jean-Philippe (electronics and shruti box), and Dinah (plastic piping, megaphone and walkie-talkie). At the end we Facebook-lived the sunset as we drew love hearts in the sand.
Fastforward to 2020, and it’s Google’s turn to buy a beach. We will be there, with others, we hope – with our instruments, our voices and our buckets and spades.
See video of the season 1 episode 01, « She Likes ».
