When art suggests activities to reconnect with nature.
Local and international artists sensitive to environmental issues – such as Julian Charrière, Zheng Bo, Eli Cortiñas, and Valérie Favre – are invited to create instructions for alternative encounters with nature. The instructions offer new perspectives on our interactions with the environment, and how we react to imperatives. In everyday life, we are constantly confronted with instructions designed to promote human coexistence, or to define a framework in which to evolve. Those created for (re)connecting.earth open up a space for discussion about ecological transition and interspecies dialogue. They invite the spectators, whether in theory or in action, to enter into direct interaction with other beings that inhabit the immediate urban environment.
Presented in the form of prints or posters of various sizes in different locations, the works trigger an emotion, a thought process, performative actions or the production of physical objects. In each participating city, a selection of additional local artists is invited to join this process alongside the new venues of (re)connecting.earth.
Artists‘ instructions follow a well-known path in art history. Many artists – from members of Fluxus, to Duchamp and Yoko Ono – have used this mode of expression in their artistic practice. For (re)connecting.earth, the instructions in the indoor exhibition spaces are supplemented by a selection of works by some of the exhibiting artists. They help to contextualise and question the theme of the affective or emotional relationship to flora and fauna. Chosen in reference to each city‘s unique challenges, the themes of each edition of (re)connecting.earth ask questions such as: How does connecting with nature enhance our present and future? What is the nature of our exchanges with other species? Why are some animals and plants more valued than others?
The instructions and the works are thematic starting points for workshops, participatory lectures between scientists and the public, walks on urban ecology with an artist-scientist duo, and artistic performances, that take place occasionally during the exhibition as part of an extended program.
