This is the challenge posed by the Swiss-French artist Julian Charrière with his cross-border artistic program " Calls for Action ." In it, he establishes a live connection between the city of Basel in Switzerland and Baden-Baden in Germany with the diverse forests in Ecuador that Fundación Jocotoco protects, combining art in public spaces with environmental awareness.

With a large screen mounted on the facade of the Globus department store in Basel's market square, this artwork opens a real-time window into the lush biodiversity of the Western Andean Cloud Forests in Ecuador, home to many endangered species of flora and fauna. 

To encourage communication and interaction, Julian installed a phone booth where visitors can listen to the forest's ecosystem, establishing a direct dialogue with nature. A live camera and omnidirectional microphones were installed in the forest to capture its sounds, while a small loudspeaker projects visitors' speech. To avoid disturbing the wildlife, the sound is adjusted below human speech levels to match birdsong.

"Calls for Action is both a playful and critical intervention, showing the importance of emotional connection to environmental action. Although rainforests act as important carbon sinks and are home to vibrant biodiverse communities of life, few people in the Global North have had the opportunity to experience them first-hand. I wanted to create an opportunity for the public to intimately engage with an ecosystem distant from Basel, and to hear their own voices within it," says Julian.

In addition to developing an emotional connection to the forests, visitors can individually join the fundraising effort by using a QR code inside the phone booth to help Jocotoco's work to protect these critical areas for the conservation of threatened wildlife.

Julian emphasizes: "Calls for Action is a reminder that our presence is felt even in places we imagine being remote. Everything is connected, and there is no place that does not feel the consequences of human action or inaction. Calls for Action is an encounter with this reality, but also with the possibility that if we act with intention, if we put out voices together, we can support and regrow that which might otherwise have been silently lost."

Through this collective experience, Julian Charrière wants to create new global connections that extend beyond the boundaries of our immediate environment. 

"Art can be used as a means to actively engage with environmental issues beyond everyday experience: halting deforestation, ecological responsibility, and sustainable rainforest management," he says.

"Calls for Action" in Basel is presented through the Globus Public Art Project , an initiative by the Swiss department store Globus in collaboration with the Fondation Beyeler , which will remain on display until October 6, 2024.

In Baden-Baden, "Calls for Action" joins forces with Museum Frieder Burda , offering an immersive and participatory experience inside the gallery. Bringing together the institution, located in the mythical Black Forest wilderness, with a Coastal Forest in Ecuador, the installation is on view as part of the museum's 20th anniversary exhibition 'I Feel the Earth Whisper' alongside Bianca Bondi, Sam Falls and Ernesto Neto. It is on display until November 3, 2024.

From Jocotoco, we support this innovative project that creates a bridge between art and conservation, providing a powerful tool that motivates people around the world to experience and also, hopefully, to protect the wild places of the planet. 

Calls for Action are facilitated with the support of Art into Acres , an artist-founded, non-profit initiative, and conservation partner Re:wild .