UMEÅ.- The works in Eco-Visionaries present alternative approaches to, and ideas about the relationship between human beings and the environmental, social and mental ecologies – systems that are intrinsically linked and interactive. The participating artists propose more sustainable attitudes towards the place of human beings on this earth.

The exhibition includes video works, drawings, sound elements, books and installations by Ursula Biemann (b. 1955, Switzerland) and Paulo Tavares (b. 1980, Brazil), Carolina Caycedo (b. 1978, United Kingdom), the international group Futurefarmers, Marjetica Potrč (b. 1953, Slovenia), Samuel Roturier (b. 1982, France), Erik Sjödin (b. 1979, Sweden), Leena Valkeapää (b. 1964, Finland) and Oula-Antti Valkeapää (b. 1970, Finland) and Elin Már Øyen Vister (b. 1976, Norway).

Eco-Visionaries are people who, in spite of a seemingly hopeless situation with the world’s collected ecological problems, still manage to think creatively, spawn new ideas to counteract the apathy and suggest new solutions or alternative ways of relating to the world. The artworks in the exhibition provide hope and inspiration by showing that there are choices to make and alternative paths to take. That it is possible to question how mental ecologies are formed and suggest other orders of priority and ways of looking at the world.

The book Eco-Visionaries was produced for the exhibition in a collaboration between Bildmuseet; MAAT in Lisbon; HeK in Basel; and LABoral in Gijón. With thanks to the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.