Botanical Garden as a site of ecological memory & transformation

As part of the exhibition Botanical Memories, SAVVY Contemporary and WE ARE AIA present a talk introducing their long term collaboration on the Botanical Garden of the Future as part of Zurich Art Weekend. The conversation explores the botanical garden as a living archive shaped by plant migration, colonial histories, ecological change, and diverse knowledge systems. We ask how botanical gardens can move beyond display to become spaces of dialogue, participation, and shared learning in response to biodiversity loss and climate injustice.

In September 2027, the Botanical Garden of the University of Zurich will host the first gathering of this collaboration with a series of performances. The garden will act as a site of experimentation and exchange, opening a playground to explore new formats of engagement while contributing to a broader translocal dialogue on the role of botanical gardens worldwide. Bringing together artistic, scientific and community based practices, the project understands plants not as neutral specimens, but as carriers of stories, displacement and survival. It centres diverse knowledge systems and creates space for plural and situated ways of knowing, inviting collective exploration across contexts.
 

WE ARE AIA is an independent cultural institution in Zurich, developing exhibitions, performances, and transdisciplinary projects connecting artistic and scientific knowledge.

SAVVY Contemporary is an artistic organisation, discursive platform – a space for conviviality and cultural plurilog, based in Berlin and working across multiple geographies.