Research Institute for Sustainability at GFZ (RIFS)
03.12.2025-05.12.2025
RIFS Conference 2025 – Tough Conversations in Tough Times
03-05 December 2025 | Leonardo Royal Berlin Hotel Otto-Braun-Straße 90, 10249 Berlin Germany
Here, the exhibition becomes both artwork and research output. On the walls: photographic montages and visual experiments developed over the past year. In the room: fragments of conversations collected across seven previous shows – anonymous notes, reflections from visitors, emotional keywords, tiny acts of courage where people dared to name what climate change actually feels like in their daily lives.
The exhibition at RIFS brings these threads together and asks a simple but uneasy question:
What happens when we treat art not as decoration around a conference, but as infrastructure for public conversation?
You’ll encounter images that look like interrupted horizons, fragile frames, and layered textures that refuse to give a single “right” reading. Alongside them, prompts invite you to respond – to write, circle, underline, disagree, or simply pause. The aim is not to convince, but to make room for honest, sometimes uncomfortable, climate talk inside a space usually reserved for presentations and panels.
Artistic Session – Friday, 5 December, 10:35–12:05
As part of the conference programme, I will also host an artistic session connected to the exhibition:
We will walk through selected works together, using them as starting points rather than endpoints.
I will share findings from seven exhibitions so far: what visitors felt, where conversations opened up, and where they shut down.
Participants will be invited into a few simple, low-pressure participatory exercises – small, practical ways to bring emotion, memory, and imagination back into climate conversations that often feel technical and distant.
The session is designed for researchers, practitioners, activists, and anyone who has ever thought: “I care, but I don’t know how to talk about this anymore.”
Practical Information
Exhibition: Drishya Kala Klima – Tough Conversations in Tough Times
Context: RIFS | at GFZ 2025 Conference, Berlin
Dates: 3–5 December 2025
Artistic Session: Friday, 5 December, 10:35–12:05
If you’re attending the conference and would like to connect, collaborate, or host a Drishya Kala Klima exhibition/dialogue in 2026, you’re very welcome to reach out.
We’ll keep making space for the tough conversations – one image, one story, one shared moment at a time.