Shaken Grounds: Seismographies of Precarious Presences

The research project Shaken Grounds brings together artists, scientists, and curators to explore how seismic disturbances of the Earth shape perception, bodies, and collective forms of living together.

Not only natural but also anthropogenic forces give rise to (or intensify) seismic processes. What forms of precarity shape this socio-geological dynamic, and what new uncertainties does it produce? How do human and more-than-human actors move on ground that is increasingly unstable – geologically, politically, and existentially?

Situated at the intersection of artistic research, geology, somatic practices, performance art, and film making, the project understands seismography as an open, transdisciplinary practice: a method of perceiving, translating, and relating bodies, technologies, and the planet Earth at sites of heightened seismic activity.

Program:

From 2023 to 2026, the project was funded through the Austrian Science Fund’s Programme for Arts-based Research (PEEK). The methods and artefacts developed during this period will be presented from 16 April to 30 April 2026 in an experimental laboratory at the AIL and shared with a wider public through participatory film shoots, workshops, and talks.

On 4 May, the Shaken Grounds exhibition opens at a AIL. It will make visible the first curatorial axes of a group exhibition and conference planned for 2027, featuring Italian, Icelandic, Croatian, and Austrian artists at the Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Zagreb. The exhibition is supported by Creative Europe.

During May, a think tank will take place at the AIL with EU partners and invited guests. Its outcomes will be shared in a public symposium.

More info coming soon.

With contributions by:

Valerio Acocella, Bjarki Bragason, Arno Böhler, Alexander Damianisch, Oscar Fernadez Bellon Helga Franza, Nicolas Freytag, Sabine Folie, Aleksandar Grabovski, Nikolaus Gansterer, Mariella Greil, Jens Hauser, Victor Jaschke, Beatrice Jaschke, Peter Kozek, Anna Líndal, Vesna Meštrić, Werner Moebius, Susanna Ravelli, Sylvia Scheidl, Ana Škegro, Lucie Strecker, Kaloyan Vasev, VestAndPage, Et.al