Eco stories

Climate disruption is being felt everywhere, from droughts and wildfires to rising sea levels and the disappearance of animal and plant species. Scientific reports and news coverage confront us daily with the severity and urgency of the situation. Yet, despite these alarming realities, climate change remains far from a political priority, while scientific information often proves too abstract to foster ecological awareness.

The exhibition Eco Stories seeks to make the reality of climate change tangible through artistic imagination, while opening up alternative perspectives. Art can help us envision both what is happening and how things could be different. In an era of global warming, artists and scientists are invited to work together to create new and alternative narratives.

The challenges facing societies today call for an ongoing exchange between science, art, technology and critical social reflection. In this respect, the exhibition’s setting on a university campus is particularly meaningful. As part of this project, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) provided a platform for collaboration between artists and scientists. Bringing artistic and scientific perspectives together, the exhibition explores the possibilities that emerge at the intersection of different disciplines.

This vision and approach are due in large part to Frank Theys, the exhibition’s curator. For this project, he brought together artists and VUB researchers in a process of dialogue, exchange and research. By connecting different forms of knowledge, the exhibition expresses an ecological vision grounded in interdependence, collaboration and interconnectedness. Rather than focusing on the isolated individual or the separate discipline, it foregrounds the network of relationships from which new insights and narratives can emerge. By encouraging artists and scientists not merely to work alongside one another, but to think and create together, the curator has enabled a process that exemplifies the ecological principles at the heart of this exhibition.

Participating artists: Valentina Bianchi & Milan Gillard, Ricardo Brey, Alexandra Dementieva, Marjolijn Ploy Thongchamnan Dijkman and Frank Theys.

In collaboration with the following scientists and researchers: Lealia Derickx, Waldo Galle, Vincent Ginis, Seorin Kim, Mathieu Louis, Adriana Moreno Cely, Jara Saluena Martin, Kimberley Vandenhole, Tibo Vanleke and Arne Vanhoyweghen.