Environmental Art Exchange (EAE)

Haying. Dharmendra Prasad. Photo credit: Shazeb Shaikh

Land and environmental art offers a critical yet constructive branch of creativity to produce ecological awareness, engagement, and action. More importantly, it offers a deeper connection in our individual and collective relationships with nature that can reveal more than we can find from other sources of technical research.

Environmental Art Exchange (EAE) brings together an interdisciplinary global community of people, partners, and projects, who are actively deepening their relationship with land and environment. By creating opportunities of exchange, learning, and creation, between the network and the general public, EAE serves as an ecosystem for ecological discovery, engagement, and action.

Through physical and digital, research and production residencies, learning programs, community and student projects, and an extensive network and archive, EAE will create an Indo-Swiss exchange over the next three years. This network will grow into a platform with partners /nodes in various countries, over the years.

EAE’s founding partners are:

ILEA (Institute for Land & Environmental Art) – Swiss art, research and education institution, enabling ecological connections, conversations, and actions through a well-defined and holistic approach

Story of Foundation – Indian organization and collective offering live and informal learning opportunities for the general public – at the intersection of arts, science, culture, and philosophy 

 EAE – Pilot Exchange Program (2022-23)

 Initiated by Indian curator, Shazeb Shaikh, and the Institute for Land and Environmental Art (ILEA) represented by its founder, Johannes M. Hedinger (Swiss artist, curator, educator and researcher), the EAE project and platform has launched its first exchange between India and Switzerland in June 2022. 

 2022

 India in Switzerland

Artist Dharmendra Prasad is producing the ‘Grass Museum’ during his residency as part of Art Safiental Biennale 2022. Shazeb Shaikh will also be in a curatorial residency alongside Dharmendra Prasad at the ILEA Residency at Berghotel Alpenblick in the village of Tenna in Safiental GR. Both will be part of the team at the Alps Art Academy in Aug-Sept 2022, a summer school focused on land and environment, organized by ILEA. 

Switzerland in India 

Johannes M. Hedinger will travel to India to research diverse landscapes and collaborative possibilities for ILEA and EAE, into the future. 

UPDATE: 

Talk by Shazeb Shaikh and Dharmendra Prasad on Sunday 28 Aug 2022 at ILEA Talks.