Julian Charrière: Art as a Call to Action

• Julian Charrière’s installation Soothsayers (2021), currently on display at UDEM beneath the Estoa building, uses coal and steel to evoke the environmental crisis, urging reflection on resource use and imagined futures. Presented by the UDEM Arts Center, the piece highlights how art can serve as both resistance and hope, with guided tours offering a space for shared reflection and collective inspiration.

In the face of the climate crisis and ecological deterioration, art can become a form of both resistance and hope. This is powerfully reflected in the work of Franco-Swiss artist Julian Charrière, whose piece Soothsayers (2021) is currently on view at our university, installed under the shade of the Estoa building.

The installation, composed of coal and steel, confronts us with potent symbols of environmental collapse—inviting us to reflect on the materials we extract, the energy we consume, and the futures we imagine.

From the UDEM Arts Center, we invite you to experience this piece and other works from our contemporary art collection. Through guided tours, we open up a space for participation, dialogue, and shared reflection—where art, experienced in community, becomes a seed for change and a source of collective inspiration.