Sustainable development at the heart of the Esch2022 projects

Breathe… Cultivate a garden… Discover amazing urban gardens along the trails of the Terres Rouges. Taste historic recipes from your region and local products! A string of Esch2022 projects focused on sustainable development encourage you to look after yourself and the planet.

Local and environmentally friendly consumption
Esch2022 invites you to take part in a textile upcycling/zero waste project around the theme of water as part of the pop-up bar H2Only, which will travel across Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette and Esch-sur-Sûre. You can also participate in a culinary theater play through the project ‘Terre Ferme’ organised by the municipal administration of Differdange at the Lommelshaff farm. Or develop and fit out the ephemeral restaurant ‘Le Mixeur’, also in Lommelshaff.

The ‘Sonomaton’ scheme, which will also travel across the region, lets you record the culinary recipes of your ancestors as part of Expérience Marcel, which are then interpreted collectively during the ‘Utopists’ Banquet’. Lovers of unusual lunches will be delighted by the ‘Acoustic Picnic’ project, with nearly 30 events from mid-July to mid-September 2022, including the creation of a musical piece based on the landscapes of La Haard and numerous walks with ‘Picnics’ to be ordered from a selection of shops and restaurants in Dudelange and Kayl/Tétange. Deckchairs, blankets and (solar-powered) LED flashlights will be provided!

‘Au Goût du Terroir’ (organised under the label ‘Green Event’) is a regional market that lets you discover high-quality local products and meet their producers. It will offer taste workshops, tastings and information on nutrition, focusing on the ecological quality of local products and their contribution to the biodiversity of the region in which they are made.

Sustainable regional redevelopment
The project ‘Red Luxembourg’ invites us to rethink the question of collective, affordable and ecological housing on the Franco-Luxembourg cross-border territory. An exhibition at the Kulturfabrik and a publication will accompany this project focused on the Terres Rouges. The project ‘EDEN EUROPA’ aims to strengthen the links between the inhabitants of the regions, on both sides of the border, through live performance, dance, music and the scenographic construction of urban gardens. You will be able to participate in garden creation workshops and the creation of green urban scenographic spaces. A genuine open-air museum, the ‘Landscapes’ project invites visitors to reclaim the ‘Léiffrächen’ and ‘Hutbierg’ nature reserves and rediscover past landscapes.

With ‘Histoires de serres’, a project implemented at the former Soleuvre greenhouses, which have recently acquired by the municipality of Sanem, residents and visitors will be able to take a curious and critical look at this singular (agri)cultural production tool. An exhibition and a varied programme of cultural events (workshops, walks, readings, debates, screenings, etc.) will allow inhabitants to reclaim this long-abandoned place.

Venues and projects at the heart of sustainable development
Under the supervision of artists and designers, ‘Centre Formida – create and connect’, a project developed by the non-profit organisation arcus, encourages a creative and sustainable use of industrial residual materials by various target audiences including children from 3 to 12 years old. The Pop-Up Village (Eco-Design project) organised by the municipality of Mondercange and its partner Twist and Tweak, will host a creators’ market around design, sustainable development, agriculture and permaculture near the cultural center ‘Beim Nëssert’ in Bergem. In Rumelange, the Rëm.xx project will rehabilitate and reinvent the Albert Hames site, which brings together the homes and the workshop of the late renowned sculptor Albert Hames. Designed as tourist accommodation that will be open all year round, the future Albert Hames site follows a unique multifunctional approach, both in terms of spatial planning and functionalities. Contemporary artistic creation will be at the heart of this immersive tourist experience.

Promoting artistic creation in connection with sustainable development, the ‘Little House’ of nearly 100 sqm installed on the campus throughout 2022 will be a networked place of creation, research, production and encounters around the theme of circularity. This ephemeral space will be designed by architects and engineers from uni.lu in cooperation with local and international partners.

The Lille-based collective of multidisciplinary artists metalu.net (Métalu A Chahuter) will bring together personalities from various backgrounds (artists, scientists, researchers, computer scientists, developers, etc.) who create interactive technologies and devices. They will lead a series of playful ‘Domozique’ workshops and create a park of ‘domophones’, new musical instruments created from everyday objects and metalu.net technology.

For the Luxembourgian photographer Jessica Theis, who has conceived the project ‘1001 Tons’, it is fundamentally important to visualise our behaviour as consumers and the way in which society’s throw-away mentality contributes to the environmental problem. ‘Why are we buying so much? Why do we always replace things instead of fixing them? How can we act against this? What can we do as individuals? What can we do in our circle of friends, in our family, at work?’  Theis will exhibit her photographs of garbage found in nature and on roads in the urban space, organise round tables, initiate exhibitions and actions with school classes and publish a catalogue.

As for ‘RESPIRE’, this is an exhibition presented next summer (from 04.06. to 25.09.2022) at La Massenoire in Esch-Belval. A project designed by the DMLab, Environmental Design Laboratory of ENSAD Nancy, it will question the ability of design to contribute to the transformation of our lifestyles. RESPIRE is an interdisciplinary research and creation project on breathing and its role as a lever for modifying our relationships with the environment and our lifestyles.

For details about all these projects and many others see the agenda on the Esch2022 website.