News

Discussion Series Art in Conflict
Gessnerallee Zurich

Wednesday, 25. March 2026, 17.30–19.00 CET
Stall 6, Gessnerallee 6, Zurich & Zoom 
Live broadcast to the media library of the Academy of Art and Design Basel, Freilager-Platz 1, Münchenstein, 8th floor

Between Education and Art – Inspiring Self-Empowerment

with Lera Lerner (Artist, Curator, Mediator, Founder of the Imaginary Museum of Displaced Persons), present on site, and Fairooz Tamimi (Author, Journalist, Action for Hope), joining online

What can art achieve in regions affected by crisis? How do artists engage in fostering human connections and peaceful conflict transformation, and what are the indispensable conditions for this? The Art in Conflict series explores fundamental questions of international peacebuilding through dialogues with practitioners and scholars from diverse disciplines and backgrounds.
In the format of roundtable conversations, with two guests at a time, the series addresses specific topics in this field, drawing on both practical experiences and theoretical reflections. The discussions are moderated by the team of artasfoundation, the Swiss foundation for art in conflict regions, which has been initiating and organising art projects since 2012.

The idea of education as self-empowerment shares much with socially engaged art concepts. Yet how can art and education interact to create learning spaces that people can shape themselves – beyond control and discipline?
Lera Lerner, a PhD holder in plant genetics from St. Petersburg, experiments in her performances and installations with “chance, wonder, intuition, and love” as pathways to spontaneous communication in public space.

Fairooz Tamimi is an author, cultural manager, and director of Action for Hope, an organisation that initiates cultural projects addressing the social, cultural, and psychological needs of distressed and displaced communities in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) and in Europe.

Spontaneous participation on site is always possible. Online participation is possible with prior registration. Free entry. The event will be held in English. 

For the event on 25. March 2026, please register here!

This event is part of a monthly series that is organised by the CAP, a joint initiative of artasfoundation and the ZHdK in cooperation with Theater Gessnerallee. Here you can subscribe to the current programme of Art in Conflict and stay up to date. 

Next Dates:

Wednesday, 22. April 2026, 17.30 CEST
Spaces of Possibility in Conflict Transformation Through Arts
with Maja Leo and Tinatin Gurgenidze 

Wednesday, 10. June 2026, 17.30 CEST
Belonging, Loss, and the Language of Art
with Vida Rucli and Fazil On Yu 

Art in Conflict – Practice #2

Workshop with Lera Lerner:
A collaborative cookbook with plants from the Labyrinthplatz and its surroundings

Sunday, 22. March 2026, 12.00–17.00 CET

in cooperation with the Labyrinthplatz Zürich

Art in Conflict – Practice is a spin-off of the Art in Conflict discussion series, translating its reflections into practice. 

Lera Lerner is an artist and curator born in St. Petersburg and now based in Paris, with a PhD in plant genetics. In this workshop, she will work with the approach of sociopoetic art – an art practice that fosters inclusion and mutual learning. Together, we will explore the plant life around Labyrinthplatz (Kaserne Zurich) and collaboratively develop recipes inspired by our findings. These will be documented using simple printing techniques in a collectively designed zine.

• Date: Sunday, 22. March, 12.00–17.00 CET
• Meeting point: Labyrinthplatz Zürich, Zeughaushof, Kanonengasse 16, 8004 Zurich
• Language: The workshop will be held in English
• Cost: free of charge. Participants who can afford it, are invited to pay a fee of 25 CHF (regular) or 50 CHF (including solidarity contribution for people who cannot afford the fee)
• Registration: Please register by 13. March 2026 via mara.zuest@artasfoundation.ch

Art in Conflict - Practice #3

Making Invisible Stories Visible
The Cinematic Work of Nicole Vögele 

Wednesday, 20. May 2026, Screening at 17.30 CEST, followed by a discussion with independent filmmaker and journalist Nicole Vögele at 20.15 CEST. 

Art in Conflict – Practice is a spin-off of the Art in Conflict discussion series, translating its reflections into practice. 

THE LANDSCAPE AND THE FURY (Switzerland 2024, 138 min) was filmed in Ravnice in northwestern Bosnia, where landmines from the Bosnian War remain and a European external border runs through the area. Amid this landscape daily life continues and a strong sense of solidarity exists among residents. But how can the absurd history of the 932-kilometre EU external border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina be told? How does one depict images for a form of violence that expresses itself through its invisibility along what seems like an endlessly green border? Nicole Vögele describes her approach as searching for a “kaleidoscope of pain in the rustling leaves” in order to “cinematically explore this patch of earth, this patch of the world’s soul.”

Nicole Vögele, The Landscape and the Fury, Switzerland 2024, 138 min, languages: Bosnian, Dari, Farsi, Kurdish, Sorani, Punjabi; subtitles: English

Spontaneous participation on site is always possible. Online participation is possible with prior registration. Free entry. The event will be held in English.

For the event on 20. May, please register here!