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EcoArtLab

project abstract​

Fridays for Future, climate crisis, net zero – the debate about climate change and ecological sustainability has moved to the center of society. The question is what options for action exist and what conditions must be in place for a societal transformation toward greater sustainability to be possible.  Climate researchers seek exchange with artists or adapt artistic processes in the course of a creative (re-)turn (Hawkins 2020, Marsten & deLeeuw 2013, Crang 2010), while artistic practice is turning to ecological themes. However, it is debated to what extent the arts can actually generate sustainable ecological effects by fueling a thematic debate without questioning structures and logics of production in the sense of a critical practice. More and more initiatives and funding bodies are also trying to bring artists together with climate researchers. 
Little is known about what new processes of knowledge generation are produced by these experimental arrangements. This practice-based research project at the Institute for Practices and Theories of the Arts at the Bern Academy of the Arts HKB investigates in cooperation with the mLAB at the Institute of Geography of the University of Bern how the interplay of expertise from artistic research, geography and critical sustainability research can be made fruitful for the climate debate. The main focus is on climate art projects that involve collaborative approaches between artists and scientists. What methodologies can be developed in the transdisciplinary collaborations to make climate change tangible as a hyperobject (Morton 2013) and to drive cultural change? The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

further info

support

Swiss National Science Foundation, prohelvetia

«Plankton ecosystems» – Shaping the narrative of climate change with art and community science practices

The PhD project of Riikka Tauriainen focuses on the target groups addressed by these climate art projects in order to develop and implement an artistic mediation concept within the framework of an artistic-scientific doctorate. Theoretically, the concept of the ‘imagined audience’ or the ‘imagined layperson’ (Guggenheim et al. 2004) is used. Who are the projects designed for and who do they actually reach?

Riikka Tauriainen

Riikka Tauriainen (she/her) is a visual artist, researcher and lecturer. She explores water phenomena and the extent to which our kinship with other bodies can be understood as a deeply materialistic relationality. Riikka Tauriainen grew up in Finland and lives in Zurich. She studied in Tallinn, Essen and Berlin and received her Master in Fine Arts from the Zurich University of the Arts.

Transdisciplinary Research in Art and Climate Science Collaborations

The PhD project of Johanna Paschen focuses on methods of knowledge generation in transdisciplinary collaborations. The project investigates which strategies and methodological approaches emerge in the collaborations in interaction between ecologization of artistic practices and a creative (re-)turn in human geography (Hawkins 2020).

Johanna Paschen

Johanna Paschen (she/her) is a PhD student researching on the intersection of sustainability, art, and transdicisplinarity at the EcoArtLab. She is involved with the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern and the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB). Having an academic background in human ecology – culture, power, and sustainability from Lund University as well as Liberal Arts and Sciences from University of Groningen, her focus is on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Furthermore, she has been working with different NGO’s such as Noah – Friends of the Earth Denmark and the Wilderness Foundation UK in the area of education for sustainability on a local and European level. Having a strong interest in projects involving artistic research and collaborating between the arts and sciences to go beyond disciplinary perspectives, she has been mostly engaged with interdisciplinary and participatory research concerning topics such as social and environmental justice in connection with art.

Production Workshop on Soil Hills

At the beginning of August 2024, the residents of the current EcoArtLab residency focusing on climate change, migration and in/justice conducted a three-day production workshop at the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum. They used the traditional method of rammed earth to complete their artistic installation, which places the Gangetic Delta in context with the Swiss Alps. They invited visitors to actively participate, which led to exciting conversations and exchanges. 

The finished installation and a complementary film as the results of their artistic-scientific research will be officially included in the exhibition of the Open-Air Museum Ballenberg from September 7, 2024.

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