Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, environmental pollution and species extinction, all of which have been accelerated by globalization and an exploitative system of production and consumption and have long since become a palpable reality—it has become inevitable to discuss the relationship of humans and nature. Humans have long felt safe in their supposed superiority, putting themselves above nature and its processes in a gesture of power and domestication. With serious consequences. A shift away from this human-centered perspective has long been called for, as well as a turn towards holistic views, because we are a part of nature and its system. If we destroy it, it will destroy us, too.
In its 2021 program, D21 Artspace will discuss the relationship of human and nature from numerous perspectives in exhibitions, symposia, film screenings, and interactive formats. This includes questions about human perspectives on nature as well as questions about sustainable production and usage—also in the art system itself. What solutions to our ecological problems are imaginable?