Scientific perspective | Dialogue as a means to understanding and empathy - Nanakia

Amanda Wigfall

Okt. 9, 2024

Scientific perspective | Dialogue as a means to understanding and empathy

Under the framework of this art X science residency, the postdisciplinary collective Terravibe wished to bring forward* dialogue as a tool of empathy, change, resistance and action. Concentrating on the physical and political lands of our origin we proposed an intergenerational, intercontinental dialogue to further promote the notion of the common ground and the temporal nature of home in climate affected areas.

When: 01.-10.2024
Where: Bern / Hofstetten (CH)
Scale: Intercontinental
Role: Soil Scientist, Weaver, Daughter
Affiliation: Terravibe
Partners: EcoArtLab by HKB, mLab at the Institute of Geography at University of Bern Ballenberg Swiss Open-Air Museum, Helvetas

The Collective Terravibe* presented a moment of reflection on Climate Change, Migration and In/Justice as part of the exhibition On the Move Across the World: stories of coming and going at the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum.

Soils, the base of life on land, are literally and metaphorically the common ground our lives and communities are built upon. Expanding on their work with soils as a hyper-local, stable medium, they play with water and rivers as a global, flowing element to draw attention to in/visible connections between the mountains and the sea, beginnings and endings, Switzerland and India. By getting personal through a mixed method comparative study between the Tomasee in Switzerland and the Gangetic Delta in India, their intention is to bring forward dialogue as a tool of empathy, change, resistance and action in highly complex, intangible contexts.

Artistic appropriation of knowledge evokes different, independent forms of knowledge, in order to complement scientific research with artistic research. With regard to the relationship between philosophy and art, this implies that artistic practice is more than just an application of theory and that theory is more than a mere reflection on practice. – Anna Tsing

My role

Starting from an artistic co-creation process, I was responsible to represent a soil science perspective through an ecofeminist lense. I did so through weaving in the socio-ecological context of my home valley, the Surselva (GR/CH) based on peer-reviewed literature, as well as a engaging in a deeply personal approach: a reflective dialogue with my mother, who knows the region inside-out from decades of living & working in the valley.

About

This project was created throughout the 2024 Residency by EcoArt Lab by HKB, in association with the Ballenberg Museum, Helvetas, and mLab at the Institute of Geography at University of Bern.

*Terravibe: flüstern aus der erde is a dirty-hands lab to regenerate our soil heritages and cultures through art, play and experimentation. The postdisciplinary collective works with soils as our common ground and medium to enter cross- generational, cross-sectural, intercultural reconciliation work. It consists of Artist Alisha Dutt Islam, Designer Nora Gailer, and Geographer Christa Herrmann and is based in Zürich, CH.