exCHANGE and THEMIS: A symbiotic approach to tackle inequalities due to climate change in Alpine environments

The collaboration between art and science is essential in addressing environmental inequalities and promoting environmental justice. The exCHANGE [1] project was born precisely out of a desire to explore this potential, seeking to combine different perspectives to address complex social issues such as inequalities. By combining their powers, art, and science can create immersive experiences using augmented or extended reality to communicate the consequences of climate change. Under the activities of exCHANGE [1], the THEMIS concept was born to propose an immersive experience (by means of augmented and/or extended reality) that aims at creating conscience and awareness in the audience about the actual and final consequences of climate change in alpine environments. THEMIS aims to give voice to the voiceless, promote environmental justice, and contribute to educating people through effective communication. These two approaches are connected to the purpose of a shared project that will see the creation of an immersive experience for the public.

The extended reality experience is based on the four basic elements of nature (water, air, earth, and fire) as a complex, intricate, and very delicate system in balance. These elements produce and maintain life, but they also destroy it. All living things have been adapting and evolving for thousands of years to this harmony, but the accelerated changes in climate do not give them/us any chance to quickly adapt to the new conditions.

THEMIS is inspired by the GEOPARC Bletterbach [2], which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its geological and paleontological significance because of rock layers dating back over 280 million years, an open-air geology book that shows us the life of the planet through sedimentary rocks, fossils, and traces of ancient environments, including evidence of tropical seas and volcanic activity. We recreate these elements inside an environmental simulation chamber, and we organize dedicated sessions with heterogeneous types of audiences to observe, experience, and understand our self-relation with them in life.

 

[1] exCHANGE, Exploring Pathways of Art-Science Collaboration, Eurac Research 2024.

https://www.eurac.edu/en/institutes-centers/center-for-advanced-studies/projects/exchange

[2] GEOPARC Bletterbach. 2025. https://www.bletterbach.info/en/