The research project is organized in such a manner that we are able to explain how the high seas took on the modalities of a medium, an asset and a territory, and following this, which possibilities these features have created and eventually, which limits they hold.

The general research questions related to how representations of the oceans change, their regulatory implications and dynamics are analyzed in regards to their modality functions as origins, possibilities and limits. We approach this through studies of legal dilemmas, historical changes and aesthetical formations.

The project is organized in three work packages each attending to a particular modality and is equipped to search out the limits of the specific modality, but also facilitate comparison between the formation and transformation of each modality. The following describes each individual sub-project, its approach and methods.

An overview of how this is organized is given in the table below.