The archipelago of Venice is often at the centre of socio-ecological discussions due to its uniqueness and ambiguity. It is a world cultural heritage site and, at the same time, a fragile ecosystem, strongly threatened by the climate crisis and overtourism. This volume brings together scholars, artists, museum professionals and curators to show how Venice is a special observatory for addressing the challenges of the future and how the arts can contribute to an ecological transition and cultural regeneration.

Christina Hainzlis Head of the transdisciplinary Society in Transition Research Lab at the University for Continuing Education Krems and an affiliated researcher in Art Ecologies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. She studied art history and political communication in Salzburg, Florence, Rome and New York. Her current work addresses conflict and visualisation (with a focus on the MENA region), the Venice Archipelago and the disharmonies of the Anthropocene. She also works as a curator. --- Cristina Baldacci is an art historian and an associate professor of the History of Contemporary Art at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage). She is an affiliated faculty member at THE NEW INSTITUTE Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE), where she coordinates the Ecological Art Practices research cluster and the Art Ecologies series. She is also a research affiliate at the Platform for Sustainable Development (SDGs), University for Continuing Education Krems. Her research interests focus mainly on art, nature and ecology; art and the Anthropocene; archiving and collecting as artistic practices; and appropriation, montage and re-enactment in contemporary art - all topics on which she has published extensively. --- Adrian Praschl-Bichler works as a senior scientist at the Platform for Sustainable Development of the University for Continuing Education Krems. The art historian studied for his master’s degree at the University of Vienna and is a specialist at the interface between art history and psychology. His research focuses on the perception and the processing of art, often with the help of empirical methods. How does art affect people? And why do they react in a specific way? --- ---