Arts & Culture in Europe: the projects changemakers recommend

The selection

• Amélie NothombParis, France“Amélie Nothomb, writer and extraordinary woman. Because her presence in the world of writing is a constant source of inspiration, as is the idea that one can write every single day, each day at dawn, and deliver readers a new book every year, for the sole reason that inspiration never runs dry. Her very existence is a constant reminder of my own laziness.”Recommended by Ilaria Gaspari
• Atelier Berger MilàParis, France“A young Franco-Spanish duo who treat architecture as the tissue between people and their territory. A quiet, exacting practice, from a single room to the fabric of a city.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Bernard StieglerParis, France“A philosopher of technology (1952-2020), Bernard Stiegler saw every tool as both remedy and poison. He championed an economy of contribution in which everyone becomes a producer of knowledge again.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• Birdgirl (Mya-Rose Craig)Bristol, UK“Mya-Rose opens birdwatching and nature to communities that were too often kept outside.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• CopenhillCopenhagen, Denmark“A power plant you can ski down. Bold, and I respect that they also show its contradictions honestly.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• DiazomaAthens, Greece“They bring ancient theatres back to life for the towns around them. Heritage that still breathes.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Enzo TortoraMilan, Italy“Because his wrongful imprisonment became a catalyst for Italian judicial reform, and because he transformed personal injustice into a campaign for systemic change.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Fonds ExploreConcarneau, France“They fund the expeditions that help us understand a world we are still learning to protect.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Heatherwick StudioLondon, UK“Thomas argues that buildings should move us. His work makes the argument for him.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Kéré ArchitectureBerlin, Germany“Francis Kéré builds with local hands and local materials, and the community owns what gets built.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• La ChartreuseAiguenoire, France“They chose to make less so as to stay what they are. That takes courage, and I admire it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• La MaestraParis, FranceRecommended by Constance Albanel
• Lucas Davaze, Médiation ClimatGRENOBLE, France“He takes people to stand on a dying glacier. Climate stops being an idea and becomes a memory they keep.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Michel MayorGenève, Switzerland“He turned the question of whether we are alone into something we can measure.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Milo RauVienna, Austria“This is the first time, thanks to him, that I’ve thought about the immediate possibility of art. Not in 20 years, not in 10 years, but right now, in order to repair the living world.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• Nicolas NovaGenève, Switzerland“Nicolas taught designers to think like anthropologists. Their work matters more for it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Paul Emilieu StudioParis, France“He starts every project from what already exists. Craft and conscience, working together.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Pierre RosanvallonParis, France“Because he built an entire intellectual project around making democracy work better rather than just critiquing it, and because he showed that rigorous scholarship and public engagement are not just compatible but necessary complements.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Rotor DeconstructionBruxelles, Belgium“They prove that salvaging a building's materials can pay for itself. That is what convinces builders.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Schumacher CollegeDartington, UK“A school that lives what it teaches, grows its own food and decides together. That is education I believe in.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Studio Other SpacesBerlin, Germany“Eliasson and Behmann make spaces that ask you to feel where you stand in nature.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Studio RoosegaardeRotterdam, Netherlands“Daan turns technology into a conversation about the world we want.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Susan NeimanPotsdam, Germany“How can we grow older without betraying ourselves or our ideals? Susan Neiman embarks on a reflection on what it truly means to become an adult.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville
• Transition NetworkTotnes, UK“Rob taught me that imagining the future is a tool in itself, and the climate transition needs it.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Under The PoleConcarneau, France“They dive where science cannot easily reach, and they share everything they find.”Recommended by Florian Guillaume
• Ursula HirschmannBrussels, Belgium“Because she co-authored the Ventotene Manifesto’s vision of European federalism while herself stateless, and because she demonstrated that building transnational democracy requires both intellectual courage and practical organizing across borders.”Recommended by Alberto Alemanno
• Yves CittonParis, France“A professor at Université Paris 8, Yves Citton thinks of attention as an ecology: a scarce resource, captured by the media, that we must cultivate together as a shared environment.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• Éditions WildprojectMarseille, France“Founded in Marseille in 2008, the publishing house Wildproject brought the great texts of ecological thought into French and laid the foundations of the French environmental humanities.”Recommended by Paul Emilieu Marchesseau
• Édouard LouisParis, France“Constantly proving that telling intimate stories, bringing the ordinary to the fore, is an immensely political act.”Recommended by Coralie Custos Quatreville