The Biennial (re)connecting.earth (01) - Urban Gardening in Geneva brings together 16 international artists whose work deals with ecological issues and, more specifically, with the relationship between humans and nature in urban spaces. They developed instructions that offer viewers, in concrete and metaphorical ways, the possibility of direct interaction with other species: plants, animals or other objects that populate the city space.

Starting at the open-air exhibition space of Wilsdorf in the center of Geneva, the exhibition (re)connecting.earth extends into the urban gardens of Les Vergers in Meyrin and into the art space Andata.Ritorno, where visitors can discover additional works of some of the artists.

Whether in the urban gardens Les Vergers or in the public space in Wilsdorf on large billboards, the artistic instructions are placed in clear view to challenge city dwellers and be executed directly by passers-by. Everyone is invited to photograph their own interpretation of the instructions and to share the images with the artists and the public on the website and on social networks using the hashtag #reconnectingearth.

The instructions are also thematic starting points for workshops, art performances and urban walks with artists and scientists.

Throughout the summer of 2021, the traveling exhibition (re)connecting.earth addresses the question of the relationship between human city dwellers and other living beings. It questions the classical opposition between society and nature and invites a discovery and interpretation of instructions designed by sixteen international artists, known for their commitments to ecology. Presented in the form of posters in the city, in art spaces and in urban gardens across Europe, the instructions are designed to activate our relationship with the urban environment and to sharpen our sensitivity to the beings that inhabit it, be they birds, insects or plants.

In Geneva, (re)connecting.earth takes place in three unique places: the open-air outdoor exhibition space on Hans Wilsdorf Street in the heart of Geneva (10 June - 23 September), the urban gardens of Les Vergers in Meyrin (8 August – 11 October), and the indoor exhibition space andata.ritorno (10 – 25 July).

The idea of a "crisis of sensibility" - a transformation of the affective relationship of city dwellers to forms of life - plays a central role here. While current discourses on the environment, climate change and CO2 emissions operate with a high degree of abstraction, the works conceived for the project aim to create direct contact with the immediate environment. By including the public in the creative process, they question the emotional relationship with natural elements, the sensitivity towards non-human beings and the attention we pay to the animals and plants that make up the urban ecosystem. The artistic instructions of (re)connecting.earth are displayed to be seen and, in some cases, to be performed directly by the passers-by and by the spectators. The public is invited to stage themselves by performing the instructions and to share their performances on social networks using the hashtag #reconnectingearth. Already underway in three separate locations in the German capital Berlin, the exhibition travels from city to city across Europe, highlighting urban diversity and the different reactions and creations of the spectators and participants of the workshops.

The exhibition at the Espace Wilsdorf, renamed “Espace Terre” for the occasion, displays in several languages the instructions conceived by the artists. Installed using the city’s existing infrastructure, clearly visible for passers-by, they attract attention and stimulate a more detailed reading. In addition to being a place of passage inviting the public to stroll in the shade of the trees that surround the exhibition, the Earth Space is also the center of the workshops throughout the summer for young people in summer camps and secondary school classes.

To contextualize the notion of the instruction and the relationship between art and environment in Geneva, (re)connecting.earth additionally opens at the same time in the art exhibition space andata.ritorno, where video, pictorial and virtual reality works accompany the presentation of the instructions outdoors at the Earth Space. Printed in very large format on poster paper, the instructions are also available as posters and can be taken home for free by visitors.

Finally, in partnership with the association of the urban gardens, the inn and the farm of the Vergers, the exhibition will be on display in the Vergers Eco-neighborhood from 7 August.

The exhibition takes place simultaneously in Berlin in a similar context in a collective of allotments, at the project space Kurt-Kurt and in the public space of the neighborhood Kreuzberg.