Swissnex in Japan is pleased to announce the upcoming Planetary Embassy in Japan, an interdisciplinary exhibition and public program taking place in March 2026 as part of the global initiative Swissnex for the Planet. Conceived as a platform where art, research, and foresight converge, the Planetary Embassy explores how new forms of diplomacy might emerge when planetary and more-than-human perspectives are brought into dialogue.
Launched in 2024, Swissnex for the Planet brings together young artists, researchers, technologists, and thinkers from around the world to imagine futures that rebalance human and planetary wellbeing. The Planetary Embassy series invites audiences to consider a form of planetary diplomacy that reaches across species, time scales, and natural forces, challenging human-centered approaches to governance and international relations.
This exhibition is part of the Swissnex for the Planet initiative. From climate change to biodiversity loss, science has exposed deep fractures in the relationship between humans and the Earth. Swissnex for the Planet is an initiative to explore a new form of diplomacy focused on rebalancing human and nonhuman interests on this planet.
Learn moreThe Planetary Embassy in Japan builds on the global open call NextGen: Imagining Planetary Diplomacy, whose winning projects were announced earlier this year. A curated selection of these projects will be presented in Japan in the exhibition Imagining Planetary Diplomacy, developed in collaboration with Yuko Hasegawa, Curator and Visiting Professor at Kyoto University.
Bringing next-generation international voices into conversation with Japanese perspectives, the exhibition explores how artistic imagination, scientific inquiry, and community-driven knowledge can contribute to ecological futures and new modes of coexistence. The Planetary Embassy in Japan will open on 27 February 2026, followed by a month-long program of public talks, workshops, and interdisciplinary events throughout March.
Further details on the exhibition and event program will be announced in the coming months.
Description
“Imagining the Futures of Rights of Nature” by Lydia Dai, Beniamin Strzelecki, Genaro Matías Godoy González, Iqra Bano, and Pierre Mikhiel explores how embedding the Rights of Nature into international law and diplomacy could transform governance systems. Through a foresight process with over 30 experts and advocates, they co-created narratives that envision pathways from today’s property-based paradigm toward futures where ecosystems are recognized as legal and political subjects. The group decided to submit this project because it bridges legal innovation, foresight, and advocacy, and aims to offer an evolving platform to inspire and inform concrete action in global diplomacy.
Description
“Museums for the More-than-Human” by Yelyzaveta Bezzub proposes an exhibition that reimagines the relationship between humans and nature. By symbolically exchanging their roles, the installation highlights the fragility of both and invites visitors to reflect on planetary interdependence. Yelyzaveta Bezzub submitted this proposal because she believes art can open new pathways for diplomacy and collective imagination.
Description
“Systems of Care in Mycelium Structures” by Sulamith Tamborriello is a long-term artistic experiment that explores the relationships between humans and non-human life forms, between individual care and collective responsibility, between self and other. Over the course of a year, a trans-species collaboration between Sulamith Tamborriell and a slime mould culture will develop—a process of codependency, symbiosis, and transformation. Through this project, Sulamith Tamborriello aims to initiate a dialogue on how art can reimagine trans-species relations and shift our understanding of diplomacy beyond the human.
Description
With “The Spiritual Entities of the Kuikuro People”, Uryssé Kuikuro and Alekin Pazini want the world to know and respect another way of connection with nature. The project presents the vision of the Kuikuro People and the Spirits that surround them.
Project Lead
Fiammetta Pennisi
Media Contact
Alice Rouaud
