They love dark places and rarely attack first – unless you step on them or their soil. They are solitary by nature and don’t need the company of their peers, let alone humans. They have no limbs, no ears, no eyelids – only one long lung and one endless and slender body. They have no voice, but they are rumoured to be capable of singing. Yet, no human has ever been capable of hearing those songs.

Songs of serpents could be protecting spells or healing chants, revealing knowledge about the beginning and – most interestingly – the end of the world. Songs of serpents could also be inaudible, with no plot stories of plain being and daily silence. They could be anything: a narrative, a ritual, an image.

In a world revisiting far-right nationalism, destructive masculinity, and neo-imperialism – while gender and climate justice are continually asked to justify themselves – Songs of Serpents – Ecopoetic Zones reclaims the tales and archaic narratives of the Serpent as a symbol of resistance and regeneration. One of humanity’s oldest mythological figures, the Serpent connects to women as queens or hybrid creatures. Songs of Serpents uses its fluidity as common ground and empowerment in a situation of déjà vu and revisionism to craft new narratives of ecological belonging and resilience.

In order not to become politically impotent in the face of ongoing catastrophe, we need an ethics of joy (Braidotti), radical solidarity, conviviality, and a love for de-growth – we need resistance carols and myths of the future. These futures are for those who enjoy complex and relational ways of being. There will be no apocalypse for non-humans – what’s on the table now is whether humans will be a part of this future.

The ecological crises of our time affect communities unequally, deepening existing injustices. Turbo-capitalism and exploitation leave behind “poisoned landscapes” (in the sense of Martin Pollack) bearing both physical contamination and symbolic trauma. The new materialism of ecofeminism(s) responds not solely through empathy but through recognition of our oneness with the wounded earth.

Trauma leaves traces in bodies and earth, yet it can be reprogrammed – through repair or regeneration as the ecological work of artists or through protection as an artistic focus. More than ever, we need these protection spells based on both universal mythology and local (often women-carried) ancestral knowledge. Through them, we may reclaim the agency of the periphery as an ecopoetic zone characterised by messiness and nonlinear interconnectedness; as a self-determined space, recuperated from external colonisation and internal rigidities; as a home for queerness, living from organic diversity, ambivalence and opacity. What alternative thinking, acting, and feeling models might reflect on societies and ecosystems at tipping points and propose concepts not based on hegemonies?

Populism is only possible by hijacking narratives. But what if we could shape the myths of the future instead of solely competing for the myths of the past? Our bodies stand on the ground; our bodies are rooted in our respective localities. Our words and acts must protect the earth from both obvious exploitations, like aggressive resource extraction, and less visible, sometimes hidden forms of environmental harm. The latter often blurs the political lens by occupying artistic work with nature through romanticising or esoteric narration. Although we need tales and spells, we need a different kind – potent, clairvoyant, foresighted and farsighted. What symbolisms, narratives, myths and imaginaries are being reclaimed, questioned or reshaped as resistance to monetary and right-wing nationalist appropriations of bodies, ecologies and soils?

While humans fantasise about the power of serpents and demonise it as any power not being under control, they still love dark places, rarely attack first and sing those songs of serpents we cannot understand – looking at the offender with hundreds of eyes.

Songs of Serpents – Ecopoetic Zones is a new artistic research and exchange project that activates the potential of artist residencies in peripheral locations to foster transdisciplinary investigations at the intersection of art, ecology, and ecofeminism(s). Spanning notable ecosystems across Albania, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Ukraine, this project creates a dynamic platform where diverse methodological approaches converge. Participants are encouraged to engage through environmental science, social ecology, political theory, feminist geography, ancestral knowledge systems and experimental practices that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, not limited to narrative or mythological frameworks. Such varied approaches will generate new forms of ecological knowledge production and embodied research that challenge dominant frameworks. A groundbreaking network has been created for this project, bringing together, for the first time, the JUNGE AKADEMIE with the Villa Serpentara residency in Olevano, Romano (Italy), the Nida Art Colony on the Curonian Spit (Lithuania), the Worpswede artists’ houses (Germany), the Khata-Maysternya artists’ residency by the NGO Insha Osvita in the Carpathian Mountains (Ukraine), and the Galeria e Bregdetit residency on the Albanian coast. The German Academy in Rome, Villa Massimo, serves as an associated partner, further enriching this collaborative ecosystem.

This pilot project establishes a nomadic networking and knowledge exchange platform, bringing diverse local perspectives and initiatives into dialogue while promoting new artistic projects and communities. The focus centres on artistic-research approaches addressing the protection and regeneration of nature, landscape, and more-than-human life. Artistic exchange grants form the heart of this project, featuring local presentations and a transdisciplinary online programme that continuously networks all artists, inviting renowned actors to give lectures, give talks, and hold workshops. By exploring the intersections of feminist/queer ecologies and art, the Songs of Serpents – Ecopoetic Zones programme aims to open new pathways for understanding and representing ecological interactions that promote an inclusive and sustainable future.

Each participating location features historically, mythically, and politically charged landscapes and ecosystems such as seas, lakes, mountains, moors and forests. The residency programmes are committed to cultural and artistic work at the interface of nature and art in peripheral or rural areas, united in their resistance to right-wing narratives and the nationalist and capitalist appropriation of nature and land. Songs of Serpents – Ecopoetic Zones is developing a residency network with a model character for conviviality, creating meaningful dialogue among these diverse ecological contexts.

What contemporary and historical lines of connection between ecologies and feminisms can be found across different cultural contexts and landscapes? What poetic and political artistic responses might emerge? What resonances might already exist within these emerging artistic communities? What methodologies and knowledge systems—scientific, experiential, technological, embodied, or community-based—might contribute to transdisciplinary understandings of ecological relationships?

The project is funded by Schering Stiftung (main sponsor), the Stiftung Stark für Gegenwartskunst and the Landschaftsverband Stade.

Galeria e Bregdetit – Qendra për Peisazhe në Ndryshim (Gallery of the Coast – Center for Changing Landscapes) is a seasonal exhibition space for contemporary art and a center for art-based research. The exhibition program is presented during the sommer months on the Albanian Riviera, the country’s south coast. Exhibitions and other artistic interventions examine the influences on the local landscape, both visible (e.g., transformations of the landscape through human interventions) and invisible (sale or donation of properties to foreign investors). At the same time, they seek to promote and present emerging artistic talents to the public. Galeria e Bregdetit was founded in 2018 in Radhimë to establish a local platform for artistic research, building on the place’s importance as a tourist magnet. Recently, the gallery has established itself as an important hub in the country’s emerging art system. Elian Stefa, its founder, has given it a unique profile. The residencies take place during the off-season in a hotel.

Artists in residence in Albania are Gerta Xhaferaj and Marina Naprushkina.

Since 1971, the Künstlerhäuser Worpswede (KHW), in close cooperation with the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, has operated one of the oldest artist residencies in Germany. The internationally renowned institution serves as a production site for contemporary art. In addition to its different scholarship formats, its work is characterized above all by project-based, international, and institutional collaborations. Since 2022, KHW has been undergoing a transformation process: Striving to become a “scholarship site of the future,” the institution engages with the structural and thematic challenges of securing a sustainable future for arts funding. At the same time, this opens up an experimental space for new formats and structures. In the form of a regulatory sandbox, KHW, together with universities and institutions of higher education, explores meaningful ecological restoration and, in cooperation with the architectural collective Raumlabor Berlin, develops a blueprint for expanding the residency.

Artists in residence in Germany are Sophie Seita and Marina Naprushkina.

Villa Serpentara is an artist residency of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. It is administered by the JUNGE AKADEMIE in collaboration with the Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo. Since the 1960s, the Akademie der Künste every years invites 4 artists from all disciplines to Italy for a three-month residency. The unique landscape and the close contact with the residents of Olevano Romano is a key feature of the residency. The villa is located in Olevano Romano in Latium, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Rome in an art-historically significant place. The Serpentara, the so-called serpents’ grove, was a dream destination for generations of German artists, a romantic landscape ideal and a place of study. More than 150 years ago, a group of artists bought the property to prevent its trees from being cut down. Later, they gifted it to the German Emperor, and the then Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin took over its administration. This initiative can be considered an early example of a landscape conservation project.

Artists in residence in Italy are Dasha Chechushkova and Goda Palekaitė.

The Nida Art Colony (NAC) is part of the Vilnius Academy of Arts. As a space for art and artistic research, it is characterized by its open structure that seeks to foster links between academia, the local and international cultural scene, and the public. As a place for art education, production, research, and social interaction, NAC is open to all, though mainly aimed at academics and creatives. The Nida Art Colony offers residencies for artists, designers, architects, art critics, and curators. The program seeks to promote innovation in art and art communication and to connect its guests with the local art scene in Lithuania. Program participants are invited to get involved in local cultural initiatives, work with Lithuanian institutions, and engage with local topics.

The artist in residence in Lithuania are Goda Palekaitė and Gerta Xhaferaj.

The Khata-Maysternya residency is a project of the Ukrainian NGO Insha Osvita, which has been promoting contemporary art for several years. Since 2008, Insha Osvita has developed educational programs in Ukraine using culture and art as forms of collective learning and creating new learning spaces. The Khata-Maysternya residency was founded in 2014 by a group of artists who left the Crimean peninsula in the wake of the Russian invasion. The residency is located 600m (almost 2000 ft) above sea level in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, below the Sokilsky range. The artists working at the residency engage with nature in various ways. The house itself offers living and working spaces for up to twenty artists.

Artists in residence in Ukraine are Dasha Chechushkova und Sophie Seita.

Dariia (Dasha) Chechushkova graduated from the Grekov Odesa Art College (2014–18) and studied art theory at the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture in Kyiv (2018–23). Following the war of aggression against Ukraine, she was forced to move to Lyiv. In her artistic practice, she deals with the transformation of ideas and concepts into new forms and creates “total installations” inspired by her diary notebook featuring drawings of modern folklore. In addition, she works in a number of media, including photography, video, drawing, painting, poetry, embroidery, and happenings. Her works often deal with the ways in which individuals interact with their environment and how this “harmony” changes with their (life) circumstances. Her current interests focus on memory, monuments, mimesis, and the meaning of tradition. She lives in Odesa and Lyiv, Ukraine.

Sophie Seita is an artist and researcher. She studies materiality, gestures, and the speculative potential of archives. She exhibits her cross-media work internationally, publishes artist’s books, creates textile works and graphic notations, and directs experimental workshops on topics such as voice, touch, translation, and queer performance. She teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London. Together with Naomi Woo, she runs The Hildegard von Bingen Society for Gardening Companions, a feminist and queer gardening society inspired by the German abbess Hildegard von Bingen (ca. 1098-1179). The collaboration takes the forms of a joint speculative art and research project focused on the decolonisation and queering of gardening history. So far, the society has presented its work in the form of a solo exhibition at Mimosa House, a zine called The Minutes, and various performances, rituals, and workshops at Nottingham Contemporary, Grand Union, the Cockpit Theatre, the Centre for Art and Ecology (Goldsmiths), and Ruta del Castor (Mexico City)

Marina Naprushkina is an interdisciplinary Belarussian artist whose work frequently deals with self-organization, care networks, and feminist narratives. Her hallmark is her commitment to social justice and her engagement with power structures, both in Belarus and around the world. Using painting, video, and text, Naprushkina creates interactive spaces that concentrate on the dialogue between different communities and cultural contexts. As co-founder of the “Neue Nachbarschaft / Moabit” initiative, she demonstrates her deep connection to social and ecological issues. Moreover, she is keenly interested in the interfaces of art, ecology, and gender. Marina Naprushkina studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt with, among others, Martha Rosler and has shown her work at renowned institutions and exhibitions such as the Berliner Herbstsalon at the Gorki (2015), the Kyiv Biennial (2017), and Kunsthalle Wien (2020). She lives and works in Berlin.

Gerta Xhaferaj is an Albanian visual artist. She has an MSc in Architecture and is currently pursuing her MA in Fine Arts at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW. She won the 2024 Ardhje Young Visual Artist Award of Albania and a grant from the VID Foundation for Photography in 2022. Emplyoing a documentary visual language, her video works interweave historical and personal narratives. Her work work focuses on phenomena of everyday life and how they reflect different manifestations of the oppression of both the environment and living beings. She lives in Tirana and Basel.

Goda Palekaitė is an artist, writer, researcher and curator working in the intersection of contemporary art,performance, artistic research, literature, and anthropology. Her practice evolves around projects exploring the politics of historical narratives, the agency of dreams and fiction, and alternative discourses of knowledge. In the last decade she presented installations, films and performances in solo and group shows in various venues in Europe and beyond. Since 2024 she is the curator of the Alternative Education Program at Rupert, Vilnius. She is an author of three books as well as various essays and experimental texts. Goda Palekaitė holds a BFA in fine arts, MA in social and cultural anthropology, Post-Master in artistic research, and Ph.D. in visual arts.