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former Residency



Dialogue as means of understanding and empathy


The effects of climate change are not distributed fairly and increase inequality between the global South and the global North. Examples of this are the links between climate change, environmental change and often unwanted migration and mobility. In cooperation with the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum and the development organization Helvetas, the EcoArtLab (HKB) and the mLAB (Institute of Geography, University of Bern) are organizing a transdisciplinary residency on the topics of climate change, migration and inequality. The collaboration between art, design and science aims to make connections visible and discuss options for action. Experimental and new methodological approaches and forms of knowledge production are therefore being used.

The interdisciplinary team, consisting of Alisha Dutt Islam, Nora Gailer and Christa Hermann as advisor, will establish an intergenerational and intercontinental dialog during the residency.  From an ecofeminist perspective, this will be examined as an instrument for empathy, change, and resistance. The residents bring together two geographical points that are affected differently by climate change: The Swiss Alps, Europe’s freshwater reservoir, whose rivers reach the North Sea, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea - threatened by melting glaciers and drought, and the Sundarbans in the Ganges Delta, the largest mangrove forests in the world - threatened by recurring cyclones and flooding. In this way, the residents weave a fascinating web of generational knowledge and places from the perspectives of the beginning and the end of a river.

During the summer months in 2024, the residents are opening their research to the public and inviting them to a workshop where they build and implement their artistic installation into the current themed trail “On the Move Worldwide” at the Open-Air Museum Ballenberg. They will also present the results of their artistic

and scientific work at the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum on September 7 as part of the “European Heritage Days”, organised and facilitated by HELVETAS.

The project is in close cooperation with the SNSF-project “Relational Encounters between the Arts and Climate Research”, which analyses the institutional framework and conditions of the residency and the practices and methodological approaches of its implementation.


Project management: Mirko Winkelried & Thubten Jonas Shontshang
Project responsibility: Yvonne Schmidt
Participants: Alisha Dutt Islam, Christa Hermann and Nora Gailer (Collective Terravibe)
Partners: Ballenberg Open-Air Museum, Helvetas, mLAB (Institute of Geography, University of Bern)
Duration: 03/2023–09/2024
Funding: Helvetas