What if?

Where do art and possible future meet?

How do research projects connect with our future emerge at the interface of art and ecology? ILEA is a group of people from the art and creative industries, education, research, agriculture and regional development. They form the Institute for Land and Environmental Art, a competence and research center for environmental art in the rural Alpine region. ILEA has set itself the goal of becoming a center of competence with collaborations beyond the region, a Think & Do-Tank for socio-ecological transformation.

Moreover, to the ART SAFIENTAL outdoor biennial, which has been held every two years since 2016, and the international summer school ALPS ART ACADEMY, ILEA is dedicated to applied research: multi-year transdisciplinary projects that bring together young, creative people from the region, an international symposium (ILEA Talks), a residency program and two publication series in the field of art and ecology. Since 2020, ILEA has been based at Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna.

www.ilea.art

What it's all about: a better future

This summer, the exhibition ART SAFIENTAL, the symposium ILEA Talks and a regionally networked ALPS ART ACADEMY will take place under the title «WHAT IF?». This events will be accompanied by a reader collecting ideas and debates beyond summer 2024 using selected texts and art projects. The publication «WHAT IF? Letters to the future» brings together texts, thoughts and art projects in a time of multiple crises, fears and uncertainties that do not speak for a bright future. But such a future should be possible if we imagine: what could be, instead of limiting ourselves to what is. Then it becomes a powerful tool to foster creativity and innovation and to take control of the hope for a better tomorrow.

The «Letters to the Future» are not predictive prophecies, but expressions of dreams and ambitions. They are ideas and thoughts from visionary people, researchers, thinkers and artists who ask: «What if we could create a different, better world?» They call on us to use our minds and creativity to create a liveable and sustainable future for all. They inspire each and every one of us to take responsibility and play an active role in shaping the future.

TEXTS
Ravi Agarwal / James Bridle / Annemarie Bucher / Ishita Chakraborty / Friday for Future / Johannes M. Hedinger / Bruno Latour & Nikolay Schultz / Pablo Helguera / Hanna Hölling / Dominik Landwehr / Lesley Lokko / Timothy Morton / Harald Welzer et al.

ART PROJECTS
Ravi Agarwal & Paulina Lopez / Paloma Ayala / Magali Dougoud / Hemauer+Keller / Monica Ursina Jaeger / Vibeke Mascini / Ernesto Neto / Ola Maciejewska / Quarto / Stefanie Salzmann / Renae Shadler / Andrea Francesco Todisco / Huhtamaki Wab et al.

FACTS
14 essays / 50 short texts / 14 art projects approx. 180 pages, German / English, to be published in fall 2024 by Vexer Verlag St.Gallen / Berlin

That’s why we need you: Sharing the ’future lust'

We share many of ILEA’s initiatives free of charge. For example, the Biennale and ILEA Talks are free to participate. Most of our texts, audio and video recordings and research data are also freely accessible online. We would like to continue to do this in the future. However, there are costs: Not only do we want to remunerate our employees, researchers, artists and authors fairly, also production costs are often difficult to cover, be it for art projects, research, education, mediation or this very publication.

The current crowdfunding campaign will finance the production of the publication «What if? Letters to the future». We’ve already raised half of it - but now we need you! With your support, you can not only be the first to secure a copy of the publication, as well as to receive a guided tour of the Biennale, participation in the symposium, delicious specialties from Safiental and much more.

Detailed costs (in CHF):

• Coordination, administration: 4000
• Editorial team, research: 7000
• Text fees: 4500
• Translations (EN): 2000
• Editing, proofreading (DE/EN): 2000
• Graphics, design (template): 3500
• Layout, typesetting, image editing: 5000
• Printing, binding (Edition 1000, DZA): 8000
• Publisher + distribution (Vexer): 2000
• Fundraising, Crowdfunding, rewards: 1000
• Promotion, mailings, presentations: 1000
  = TOTAL: 40’000 CHF

Funding

• Stiftung Lucius und Annemarie Burckhardt 20’000
• We Make it (Crowdfunding) 20’000

If the campaign raises more than the targeted CHF 20,000, any surplus will go towards next year’s publication: LANDSCAPE #2, celebrating the 10th anniversary of ILEA and Art Safiental.