Poster „The Green Belt Graz“ with drawings of Coline Robin, Design: Margit Steidl, 2024-25

...is a civil-society initiative. In a series of meetings since March 2024, dozens of interested parties from a wide range of social sectors—from art and culture, science and education, social institutions, neighbourhood work, urban gardening and environmental protection —have already exchanged ideas on how urban and natural spaces could be more closely ‘interwoven’ again. More meetings are planned, and organisations and initiatives are welcome to host them or propose joint activities.

...is a figure of speech that alludes to the “European Green Belt”, the “wild” and biodiverse strip that was created after 1989 over a length of 12,500 kilometres in place of the Iron Curtain. At the same time, the “European Green Belt” is a constantly growing environmental protection initiative (www.europeangreenbelt.org). So, we asked ourselves: What if there were more wild, vital, natural places in Graz too? What if we really took seriously what humans and more-than-human beings, what animals, plants and fungi need for a good life in the city? What if there was—for real!—a continuous green corridor meandering from west to east between Plabutsch and Hilmteich? What if

... is a collaborative research, the results of which manifest themselves in different forms and spaces—as mappings and routes safe to walk on, as artistic interventions and exhibitions, as theatre plays and performances,
as ……………………

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Projects that feel connected to "The green belt Graz"

„Chronik der Dinge, die wir nicht verstehen“
Theater im Bahnhof, 08.05. – 06.06.2025

„: Rewilding the City“
off_gallery graz, 17.7. – 15.8.2024

„Wild Spots “
< rotor >, 07.06. – 19.10.2024

„Habitat Graz“
Graz Museum, 16.05.2024 – 23.02.2025

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LET US TUNE IN

“Observing, pausing, travelling motionlessly, letting the forest entering us, enforesting, connecting ourselves with the extended network of life and forgetting the boundaries of being.”

The artist Coline Robin has integrated these sentences into her panorama of Graz, which stretches from the mixed deciduous forest of the Plabutsch in the west to the Leechwald forest in the east. They are programmatic for the drawings that had initially been created for the exhibition Wild Spots. Enforesting Ourselves in the Urban World at < rotor > Centre for Contemporary Art. But its recommendation was probably also fundamentally related to our environment, which may not
feel quite as wild in urban spaces as it does in pristine forests but is nevertheless full of life and vitality. But do we really notice the animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms that inhabit Graz together with us? Do we know our neighbours at all? And do we give them the space they need?

The French philosopher Baptiste Morizot, who uses the beautiful word “enforesting (oneself)” as an alternative to “being outdoors”, believes that our awareness of our non-human cohabitants is too weak. He even identifies a real crisis in the relationship! Without fixing this relationship, he writes, it will be difficult to get to grips with the current environmental and climate crisis. The good news: Those who follow in the footsteps of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, tune in to them and their needs, can practice empathy. And this ultimately benefits all the city’s residents. The Green Belt Graz can also be seen as a guide that facilitates the search for urban nature, for traces of vitality and wilderness. It is in the nature of humans and their concepts that we will always encounter ourselves in our search for clues.

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THAT´S WHAT WE´RE AIMING FOR:

We are curious, we look for and describe interesting places in the city, both well-known and less well-known: the city‘s front, backyard, balcony and roof gardens, the wastelands, the parks and forests, the flower strips, tree grates and community gardens, Graz‘s streams and the Mur, the natural monuments and protected areas.
In particular, we want to explore the urban spaces that non-human city dwellers create and bring to life, we want to gently draw attention to our neighbours and companions, animals and plants as well as fungi and microorganisms. We want to observe and name them, we want to consider how we can get closer to each other, how we can take better care of each other.

We move between the places in a slow, winding—a meandering search for traces, a leisurely stroll, and sometimes also a wild transition. Between park and river, between green patches and well-tended gardens, abandoned fallow land and pleasant flowering strips, hidden, forgotten, lost, dreamed-of places of nature.
The “we” is as important to us as it is open: The Green Belt Graz can be braided on and woven by many, and the research for Coline Robin’s drawing was also conducted by more than 50 interested individuals, students and experts. And we look forward to welcoming new partners and companions!

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POSTER THE GREEN BELT GRAZ TO DOWNLOAD (6,6MB)

The drawings and texts on the front of this poster are by Coline Robin. They were created on the walls of <rotor> on the occasion of the exhibition Wild Spots. Enforesting Ourselves in the Urban World, which was on dispolay from 7 June to 19 October 2024.

In spring 2023, cultural workers from Graz-based institutions met for the first time and started to work on the concept for The Green Belt Graz. Coline Robin has processed the data and information on ‘green‘ and ‘wild‘ spots and their inhabitants collected over the course of a year, during collective mappings and many individual conversations in her drawings and texts. From a human and a more-than-human perspective: The individual stories are arranged along the Green Belt—from the Plabutsch mountain in the west to the Leechwald forest in the east.

Margit Steidl / studiolo M has compiled the drawings and informative texts into a poster.

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Project initiators of The Green Belt Graz:
Sibylle Dienesch, Margarethe Makovec, Thomas Wolkinger

To date, the following individuals have been involved in the mappings and discussions:
Eva Bakalli, Peter Bedenk, Catalin Betz, Katrin Bucher, Daniela Brasil, Helwig Brunner, Nayari Castillo, Beate Engelhorn, Daniela Felber, Michael Flechl, Gunther Freese, Gernot Friebes, Lissa Gartler, Oliver Gebhardt, Wigand Gössling, Martin Grabner, Jasmin Haselsteiner-Scharner, Bernd Hecke, Gabi Hiti, Eva Holzinger, Robin Klengel, Judith Laister, Andreas Motschiunig, Clara Oppel, Kattia Miranda Pérez, Karl-Heinz Posch, Nicole Pruckermayr, Maria Reiner, Johannes Rauchenberger, Karl Reiter, Brigitte Rinner, Rivka Saltiel, Franziska Schruth, David Steinwender, Markus Waitschacher, Wolfgang Windisch, Heinz Wittenbrink, Patricia Wess, Ronald Zechner, Daniela Zeschko

In-depth research:
Students of the degree course Sustainability Communication and Climate Journalism / FH Joanneum (University of Applied Sciences, Graz):
Flora Beck, Katherine Bodner, Francesca Grandolfo, Katrin Hemmer,
Lena Krones, Christina Lampl, Johann Periny, Katharina Rucker, Livia Stranzl

Collaboration in the research and realization of the wall drawings:
Nora Skrabania, Anton Tkachenko

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The Green Belt Graz is part of the Art Space Unlimited project
co-financed by the European Union

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