Air Waste Health Water Energy Soil
thematic exhibition project
concept of thematic public group exhibition project in Zurich
«Air Waste Energy Health Water Soil»
form the leitmotif for this public art exhibition at Gleis70.
In our current living situation and the state of our earth, climate, air, waste, health, water, energy and soil are some of the main problems we face and need our attention. The air is becoming more and more polluted, our energy consumption is growing rapidly, our waste threatens our health, toxins are increasingly dissolving in the water and soil, many species are dying, life on earth is threatened by climate change.
With this exhibition, 36 artists from the Gleis70 cooperative are responding to an open call to participate in this thematic exhibition, organise events, conduct guided tours and contribute artworks that address environmental issues and reflect on natural systems. The organisers also want to intensify the network between the artists. New forms of visual expression and artistic perspectives on the urgent questions of our time will be made visible to the public.
The resulting exhibition shows installations, photographs, paintings, sculptures, performances, films and conceptual ideas. The result is an art exhibition on climate change, human health, recycling, biodiversity, environmental justice, biomimicry, sustainability and regeneration. These many, very different concerns and attitudes make this exhibition unique.
The exhibition will inspire visitors with poetry, humour, colour, experiences and interactions to possibly become aware of their own ecological actions. With this exhibition, the Gleis 70 cooperative wants to make a contribution to a more environmentally conscious future and more sustainable actions.
The accompanying programme to the exhibition also offers events and guided tours of the exhibition with environmental scientists and artists.
statistics
The entire exhibition event was extremely well attended with 750 to 800 visitors (according to contact tracing sheets). On average, visitors stayed in the exhibition for more than an hour. This led to many conversations and a deeper engagement with the works, to which the professionally designed catalogue with texts by the artists on their works and the theme of the exhibition also contributed. The feedback from the visitors was extremely positive. The participating artists were very pleased about the whole event, because on the one hand they were able to show their work in this setting and on the other hand they had a lively exchange with each other in the house. The cooperative idea was also reflected in the willingness of the artists and the organising team to look after the exhibition during the 30 hours of opening time with 120 hours of presence and to contribute an additional 100 hours for the events.
The in-house support from the present companies such as FTK, Leuchtturm, Petit Grégoire Videolabor, 2015electronics AG (Martin Comini), Oeko Service (Reto Hausheer), Marktlücke GmbH (Seç Ergin and Fabian Herzog) was generous and helpful. We were also able to count on the help of an outside volunteer who assisted us not only with set-up and dismantling.
financing
The project was 50% funded by the board, 50% was the organising team's own contribution. We also tried to ensure that all artists involved received a small compensation.