The city wants to hire young environmental protesters for an open-ended art project. What is that supposed to help?
The city is looking for climate activists with a flair for art. In the picture: participants in an action by Extinction Rebellion in October 2021 in the city of Zurich, where streets were blocked with a sit-in.
What makes climate activists special? They want to save the climate, of course, and point this out with demonstrations and protests. In the city of Zurich, where the red-green majority determines politics, young environmentalists are pounding open doors with their demands. And now climate activists are even allowed to get involved in an idea funded by the city: It is looking for artists, experts in the field of climate change and climate activists who implement artistic projects on the subject of sustainability.
The action of the city’s culture department runs under the title “Arts for Future”. That sounds like Greta Thunberg and it should. “It is the young generation that urgently and loudly demands action to combat the climate crisis,” says the project description. We want to give this generation a voice and the opportunity to “challenge” the cultural sector.
The projects should offer added value for society, for example in relation to “sustainable forms of events or production processes,” said Ulrike Schröder, Head of Projects Culture of the City of Zurich. What does that mean exactly? There doesn’t have to be an answer to that yet. The only thing that is clear is that school projects, those with a commercial background or works that are not publicly accessible have no chance. “Potential”, “artistic quality” or the feasibility of the project are given as relevant selection criteria, but “utopias, visions and scenarios” may also be submitted. “We deliberately kept the goals very open,” says Schröder.
A five-person jury – including a climate activist – will assess the applications received and forward their recommendations to the Directorate for Culture, which has the final say. The public will be informed about the implementation of the projects on the website of the City of Zurich.
An “experiment” by the culture department
Schröder says it is the first time that the city is implementing such a “transdisciplinary project” in the cultural sector. “It’s an experiment. As part of the ‘Culture Laboratory Zurich’ project, we want to try out new funding formats.” The issue of sustainability is obvious. “Climate change is also omnipresent in culture.”
Because young people in particular are concerned with it, they want to be involved in the project. Schröder explains why climate activists are explicitly addressed and not just young people: “People are in demand who have already consciously dealt with climate change and can provide appropriate input in the artistic field.”
Climate activists have recently made headlines because they let the air out of SUV tires in Seefeld, for example. “Of course we distance ourselves from such actions,” says Schröder. “There will be a selection process for the projects, and we will formally check whether the participants are suitable to take part.”
120,000 francs are available for “Arts for Future”. The money should flow directly into the projects, between 10,000 and 50,000 francs can be requested for material and personnel costs per project, says Schröder.
SVP: “It’s always about the mainstream”
SVP councilor Stefan Urech doubts that the project will actually add value to society. He is a member of the parliamentary commission that also deals with the city’s cultural promotion. “The new project confirms what we have been observing for a long time: projects that deal with diversity are not funded, but those that deal with ideology. It’s always about the mainstream.”
Topics such as the climate or feminism would run like a red thread through cultural awards. He regrets one aspect in particular: “It’s always said that art should provoke and question, but in the end that just doesn’t happen,” says Urech. “Such projects are only of interest to the red-green bourgeoisie and nobody else.”
It remains to be seen which ideas the experiment will bring to light: The submission period runs from June 15 to September 15, and the jury’s decisions will be announced at the beginning of October. The projects themselves are to be implemented in the city by the end of 2023.