How can we confront the many crises of our times as a society? And what active role can art play in this? How must we change our society on a systemic level so that the Earth remains habitable in the long term? How can we break with traditional notions of art in order to strengthen its social impact and forge new alliances between art, science, and society?
The exhibition »Fellow Travellers: Art as a Tool to Change the World« acts as a catalyst for these questions: As a place for possibilities, it offers a platform for artistic projects that demonstrate the benefits of art for society in an exemplary way. Divided into various chapters, »Fellow Travellers« unites projects of this kind in order to bring them into a dialog and facilitate exchanges. In July 2025, »Fellow Travellers« opened the new exhibition chapter »Assembling Grounds: Practices of Coexistence«. The chapter was developed in India and Sri Lanka on the basis of the ZKM traveling exhibition »Critical Zones. In Search of a Common Ground« (2022–24). On its journey, this exhibition brought together diverse locations, local communities, and ideas from different contexts. Artists who participated in the exhibition project through local networks have now been invited to respond to »Fellow Travelers« questions as part of »Assembling Grounds«.
The works that resulted, including numerous new productions, interrogate modern paradigms of knowledge production and linear technological progress. They confront them with micro-histories of cultural resistance, drawing on traditional cultural techniques from various places on the Indian subcontinent. Art practice thus becomes a medium for the restoration and preservation of knowledge that is lost or threatened with oblivion due to ecological, urban, and political or economic developments. It is precisely these bodies of knowledge, which are often ignored in institutional contexts, that contain a wealth of valuable insights about how human and nonhuman actors, nature, and culture can be sustainably interwoven.
© ZKM | Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Photo: Felix Grünschloß
Curators: Mira Hirtz, Daria Mille
Curatorial assistance: Hanna Jurisch
Project assistance: Anouk Rebstock, Emma Robert
Technical project management: Anne Däuper
Scenography: Matthias Gommel
Restoration: Leonie Rök
Museum Communication: Banu Beyer, Lisa Bartling
Registrar: Natascha Daher
Text editing: Miriam Stürner, Theresa Zettelmann
Graphic Design: 2xGoldstein
Film: Max Clausen, Andy Koch, Alex Thelen
Marketing: Marlen Ernst
Communication: Sabine Jäger, Sebastian Klein, Franziska Klöck, Lilli Roser
With special thanks to Amruta Nemivant
Supported by ADAGP and Goethe-Institut.
