Climate – Crisis – Collaboration

October 5-7, 2026
Haus der Universität (University House) in Düsseldorf

The international and interdisciplinary conference intends to examine the concepts of climate, crisis and collaboration as interrelated cultural, epistemic and aesthetic dispositives of the Anthropocene, and reflects critically on their intersections across disciplines and practices.

The concepts of climate, crisis and collaboration form autonomous epistemic fields that encompass historical, cultural, aesthetic, political, and ontological dimensions. Intertwined, they shape contemporary attempts to confront multiple and interlinked planetary crises and the question of their (historical) causes. Within the critical debates surrounding the Anthropocene, these categories have generated new ecological, technological, social, religious, and aesthetic dynamics that call for critical assessment.

The conference aims to address the great challenges and opportunities presented by the increased interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary engagement with climate, crisis and collaboration as urgent topoi of our time.

To attend the conference, please register via e-mail to KlimaKriseKollab(at)hhu.de.

The Zoomlink for the hybridly organised parts of the conference will be the following:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89083436469?pwd=kgBiz9MaMoYbxo4meEVN1qbb8Iypj0.1
Meeting-ID: 890 8343 6469
Kenncode: 265160
Meeting-Chat-Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/launch/jc/89083436469

Organized by scholars from Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in the fields of literary studies, art history, art mediation and cultural management, transcultural studies, as well as cultural studies (Jewish studies):

Lisa Bosbach, Dr. phil., Research associate in the Master's program Art Mediation and Cultural Management at the Institute of Art History. Her current research focuses on contemporary art that critically engages with the global ecological crisis, especially planetary tipping points, and its social implications.

Jasmin Grande, Dr. phil., Managing Director of “Moderne im Rheinland.” Center for Rhineland Studies. Her research is interdisciplinary and transmedial, focusing on questions of the regional as a transcultural space of memory.

Franziska Koch, Dr. phil.: Art historian and senior lecturer of transcultural studies. Institute of Cultural Studies. Her current research focuses on contemporary art that fuse (auto-)ethnographical, gendered narratives and imaging technologies to explore worlded perspectives in search of planetary futures.

Farina Marx, Dr. phil.: Research associate at the Institute of Jewish Studies. Her work focuses on rabbinic literature and close textual analysis of Jewish interpretive traditions.

Lara Jade Schumacher, M.A., Research associate at the Institute of Art History, her focus lies on how artistic and exhibitionary practices shape epistemologies of the future through speculative modes of understanding.