As part of the 4th season of the "Creators facing Climate Emergency" series hosted at the École des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, the Fondation Thalie invites visual artist Daniel Steegmann Mangrané to discuss with art historian Teresa Castro. Daniel Steegmann Mangrané's recent work focuses on the notion of "feral thinking" proposed by Juliana Fausto — ferality being, in the Brazilian writer’s own words "a transformation of what was once tamed into something that is no longer so, suggesting that...

Invited to take part in the 12th edition of the Salon Art Genève 2024 to present its art collection, Fondation Thalie organized an off-site "Créateurs Urgence Climat" event as part of the ArtTalks conference program of the fair.  Linking art, science and ecology, this conversation between the artist Claudia Comte, a major figure on the Swiss and international scene based in the Basel region, and the Spanish curator Mónica Bello, Head of the Arts at CERN programme – the European Organization...

For the 4th season of “Créateurs Urgence Climat” (October 2023 – May 2024), the Foundation is inviting curator and art historian Chus Martínez and scientist Alex Jordan to discuss animal behaviour and non-human aesthetics in the face of the ecological challenge. Created in 2020 by the Fondation Thalie, this series of conversations between artists, designers and scientists committed to a post-carbon society aims to pass on new thinking and knowledge to inspire a whole new generation of...

For the 4th season of “Créateurs Urgence Climat” (October 2023 – May 2024) in partnership with the École des Arts Décoratifs Paris, Fondation Thalie invites artist and agroecologist Fernando García-Dory and jurist Xenia Chiaramonte to discuss agroecology and the New Imaginaries of Law. Created in 2020 by the Fondation Thalie, this series of conversations between artists, designers and scientists committed to a post-carbon society aims to pass on new thinking and knowledge to inspire a whole...

How can today’s waste and pollution become a solution to feed and sustain humanity? In what ways can organic and artificial intelligence influence post-anthropocentric architecture? And how can we define the new aesthetics of a post-human world? Claudia Pasquero, architect and co-founder of ecoLogicStudio, works on the transformation of our lifestyles and urban landscapes through solutions inspired by non-human elements, such as slime mould, micro-algae, and artificial intelligence. This...

“We cooperate to accomplish what we cannot do alone,” writes Richard Sennett, sociologist, author and professor at MIT, Columbia University and the LSE. This statement describes equally well the approach of the Argentinian artist Irene Kopelman, who is currently the subject of an exhibition at MAMAC (Nice), whose artistic practice is underpinned by a long-term engagement with scientists and their subjects, ranging from forests to bacteria. More generally, cooperation, a subject in which...

Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto’s installations immerse the viewer in colours, fragrances and sounds, redefining the boundaries between the artwork and the audience and simultaneously serving as models for redefining social environments. The unconventional choice of materials, the simultaneity of internal and external structures, the contrast between the organic and the mechanical, and the qualities of sensuality and tactility, are all deeply inherent to the artist’s practice. Neto was featured...

Founder and Chair of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza is an activist, philanthropist and patron of the arts. She has supported many artists in the production and creation of works that engage with the most pressing issues of our times, including commissions by artists Olafur Eliasson, Claudia Comte, Ragnar Kjartensson, Walid Raad, Rikrit Tiravanija and Ai Weiwei. In 2011, she co-founded the TBA21–Academy. Markus Reymann is co-founder and Director of...

Italian artist Rossella Biscotti uses montage as a gesture to reveal individual narratives and their relation to society. In her cross-media practice, cutting across filmmaking, performance and sculpture, she explores and reconstructs social and political moments from recent times through the subjectivity and experiences of individuals, against the backdrop of a larger institutional system. Her most recent and long-term project The Journey, started in 2016, connects scientific research,...

Thijs Biersteker creates interactive installations about the world’s most pressing issues today. In his work he seamlessly combines scientific research and new technologies to deliver an empowering experience that transforms topics like climate change, air pollution, ocean plastic and the anthropocene into tangible experiences that help people feel the facts and can travel the world to create awareness around these topics. Biersteker holds a teaching position at the Delft University of...

Daniel Wetzel is co-founder of the theatre label Rimini Protokoll, together with Helgard Haug and Stefan Kaegi. Over 20 years of activities on stages, streets and various kinds of urban sites, they have created over 300 different works, including: “World Climate Change Conference” (2015), which divided the audience into the 195 nations negotiating at each annual UN climate conference, practising the dynamics of running from meeting to meeting until the final declaration in the general...

Isa Melsheimer is a German artist whose artwork revolves around architectural and urban topics. One focus is modernist and postmodernist architecture and their underlying conceptions of human beings and nature, built space, and society. She finds inspiration for her work in literature, film, popular culture, and academic texts, including the American science theorist and feminist Donna J. Haraway, who foresees the need for new relationships and interferences between humans, machines, animals,...

Known for her impressive site-specific installations that allow the public to encounter art through nature, the Swiss artist Claudia Comte’s minimalist work mixes geometric painting and abstract sculpture. However, although seductive to the eye, her works question above all the memory of materials and their ecosystem. Thus, the wood she uses reminds us of the climatic evolution of the planet, making us aware of the modification of materials intrinsically linked to their ecosystem. Claudia...