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11 Oct ’18 – 13 Oct ’18

Politics of Nature | Universtät St. Gallen

The conference calls attention to the politics of nature, a key feature of contemporary neoliberalism and its planetary ambitions. Late capitalism has not only wide-ranging effects on the transformation of labor and subjectivities, but is also causing drastic changes in the government of nature. While the “limits-to-growth” environmentalism of the 1960s placed ecology at the center of the intellectual agenda, and the “sustainable development” movement launched in the 80’s replaced old-fashioned notions of nature with “the environment”, the current popularity of the category of the Anthropocene and climate crisis are promoting the grand narrative of an Earth-at-risk.

The purpose of the conference is to stimulate a cross-disciplinary reflection on the “states of nature” that are emerging from discourses centered on the threat of abrupt planetary environmental catastrophes, chronical conditions of ecological vulnerability, strategies of security, survival and adaptation, and the political and poetical imaginary of extinction and mutation. What is the role, responsibility, and complicity of critical theory and the arts in shaping the political and aesthetic reactions to large-scale eco-social devastations? What is the relation between the logic of coloniality and the Anthropocenic political episteme of deep history, unpredictable planetary tipping points, fear and resilience? What are the intellectual and political implications of our current, and conflicting, politics of nature?

Organised by Federico Luisetti and Emmanuel Alloa (School for Humanities and Social Sciences, Universität St. Gallen).

The conference was sponsored by the Universität St. Gallen, Research Committee, in collaboration with the Italian Thought Network


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25 Apr ’25 – 26 Oct ’25

Oscillating Spaces | CCA, Montréal

Oscillating Spaces looks to the Rhône Glacier—undergoing fast melting and transformation processes—as a case study to reflect on environmental challenges in a constantly oscillating site. Juxtaposing glacier cartography, photography, film, ecclesiastical documents, tourist souvenirs, and architectural archives, the exhibition questions the role of architecture when confronted with a shifting climate, an unstable landscape, and a site that possesses a life of its own. The research also incorporates the work of contemporary art and architecture practices whose works document the Alpine landscape, responding to and raising awareness about the complex consequences of glacier recession for plant, animal, and human life.

Group exhibition curated by Anneke Abhelakh, with works by Aufdi Aufdermauer, Anneke Abhelakh, Filip Dujardin, Harvest Salon, Leo Fabrizio, and many others.

 

 


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24 Jan ’25 – 27 Apr ’25

Memória Colateral | Galeria Avenida da Índia, Lisboa

Uriel Orlow’s exhibition ‘Memória Colateral / Collateral Memory’ proposes an investigation into the concept of restitution, a theme he has explored for more than two decades. Beyond the simple return of objects or artefacts, restitution needs to be taken as a collective responsibility to reintegrate marginalised memories into history. This concept gains expression in interventions that recover forgotten knowledge and propose new ways of narrating historical events. Emphasis is placed on listening to the resonances of suppressed narratives in the present and fostering an ethic of memory and reparation.

With the support of República Portuguesa – Cultura I DGARTES – Direção-Geral das Artes, Galerias Municipais I EGEAC and Pro Helvetia I Swiss Art Council


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15 Dec ’24 – 18 Aug ’25

Naming Natures | Museum of Natural History, Neuchâtel (CH)

In 1838, Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi (1818—1889), commissioned by the Natural History Museum of Neuchâtel, sailed to Peru on a merchant ship filled with fabrics, champagne, and watches. During his journey, which lasted almost five years, he hunted and prepared over a thousand specimens, which he sent to Neuchâtel. This story is not unique: many European museums have collections acquired in a colonial context.

The Naming Natures project, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, takes a critical look at natural history collections from colonial settings, combining scientific, historical, and museographic approaches. Is it still possible to exhibit these collections? And if so, how can they be presented differently without exoticizing or glorifying the figure of the “great men of science”? What responsibility do museums have towards the communities concerned?

With works by Chonon Bensho, Denise Bertsch, Fabiano Kueva, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Raúl Silva, Santiago Yahuarcani and many others.


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9 Nov ’24

EMAMI Art Experimental Film Festival | EMAMI Art, Kolkata

Screening of Imibizo Ka Mafavuke at EMAMI Art, Kolkata, in a session focused on films by Swiss artists curated by Damian Christinger and supported by the Swiss Embassy in India & Bhutan  at EMAMI Art Experimental FIlm Festival 2024. Screening along side works by Nicole Bachmann, Elodie Pong, Ursula Biemann and Monica Ursina Jäger.

Emami Art Experimental Film Festival (EAEFF) is a platform dedicated to curating and building discourses around alternative and experimental films, videos, and artists’ moving image practices. 


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4 Oct ’24 – 5 Jan ’25

Come Sing Along! On Raising Our Voices | Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz

As part of the Anton Bruckner Year 2024, the exhibition is dedicated to the aspect of communal singing from the perspective of contemporary art. The collection brings together around 20 national and international fi gures for whom singing is a fundamental point of reference within their artistic practice. The works on display explore singing in its various levels of meaning: be it as an expression of personal identity, as an opportunity for intercultural exchange, as a means of (political) protest, or as a community-building practice within contemporary societies.

With works by Sammy Baloji, Chto Delat, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Clément Cogitore, Ines Doujak, Noam Enbar, Nikolaus Gansterer, Mathilde ter Heijne, Dejan Kaludjerović and many others.


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3 Oct ’24

Artist Conversation with Uriel Orlow, Francesca Brusa and Louisa Behr | Migros Museum, Zurich

On the occasion of the exhibition ‘Knowledge Is a Garden’, the museum is hosting an artist talk between the artist Uriel Orlow, Francesca Brusa (from the researcher ZHdK) and Louisa Behr (curatorial assistant).

Uriel Orlow curated the exhibition together with Nadia Schneider Willen, Co-Director Museum – Collection, and placed his own works in dialogue with works from the museum’s collection and external loans. His thematic starting point is his interest in the suppression of knowledge, the unlawful appropriation of knowledge and, ultimately, new forms of knowledge production and diversity. During the talk, Uriel Orlow will provide a deeper insight into both his own artistic practice and the selection process of the collection works and loans. The artist’s talk will focus on the impossibility of neutral knowledge production and reflect on the curatorial process, which is inevitably selective and thus makes a choice as to what knowledge is conveyed by the artworks.


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