EcoArtLab: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Climate Change

The EcoArtLab at the Bern University of the Arts is a pilot project that aims to investigate how the interplay between artistic research and human geography or climate science can best contribute to the climate change debate. In this context, a summer school on Climate and the City was held in Bern and Zurich in 2020, organized in collaboration with the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich, the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern, and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). Drawing on a toolbox of research strategies, thirteen students from various artistic disciplines developed individual project ideas in consultation with scientists during the summer of 2020, which were then exhibited as part of an intervention at Frau Gerolds garden in Zurich. In addition, a series of workshops, panel discussions, and regular meet-ups examined issues of environmental sustainability, such as energy consumption, for a broader audience. The paper at hand offers a glimpse into the Climate & the City summer school. Its focus is on collaboration between artistic processes and climate research, and what approaches to and formats for knowledge generation this can produce. At the same time, it also demonstrates the hurdles and problems that collaborative work brings with it.