On the occasion of World Environment Day, an art exhibition titled ‘At the Tipping Point: Art and Ecology from the Rooftop of the World’ has opened at the Taragaon Cultural Centre in Kathmandu. The exhibition portrays the impact of environmental change through a variety of creative mediums, bringing together art, ecology, and critical thought.

Organized by Sagarmatha Next in collaboration with the Saraf Foundation, the exhibition is curated by renowned Indian art historian Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala. Dr. Lokhandwala said that the exhibition has been curated in response to urgent global ecological concerns, with a focus on artistic interpretations of environmental degradation.

The exhibition was inagurated with a powerful live performance titled ‘Earth Emergence’ by artist Salil Subedi and his team. In the performance, artists covered themselves in red mud to symbolize direct connection with the earth, underscoring the intimate relationship between humans and soil. The conceptual core of the exhibition is inspired by postcolonial thinker Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s theory of "planetarity," which urges a renewed perspective on our relationship with the Earth.

Centered on the Himalayan region which is experiencing a rate of warming nearly double the global average the exhibition engages with themes such as climate change, indigenous knowledge, scientific inquiry, and cultural memory. It seeks to redefine humanity’s bond with the planet through contemporary artistic language.

The exhibition features the works of twelve Nepali and international artists, each presenting unique and thought-provoking responses to the environmental crisis. These include poetic video works shot in the icy terrain of Svalbard questioning colonialism and climate change, as well as collaborations with indigenous communities that present forests as sentient sources of knowledge. Other works include living sculptures that revive ancient astronomical instruments using flowers, self-evolving sculptures made from fungi and natural materials, and sound-based installations that recreate the vanishing calls of sparrows amidst urban sprawl.

Photographic series explore the loss of cultivable land in Bhaktapur due to urban development, while critical visual narratives trace the transformation of Himalayan stone into sand and ultimately into concrete. Digital artworks link the microchip manufacturing process to the global decline in insect populations. One striking visual narrative captures the tragic consequences of marine plastic pollution through images and films of deceased albatross chicks.

Further works connect local festivals and food cultures to ecological awareness, and immersive sound installations shed light on the often-invisible aspects of environmental decay. Together, the exhibition spans a global perspective from the Arctic to the Andes, from the fields of Nepal to the digital cloud framing a shared environmental narrative within the context of art.

The exhibition will run for three months. Entry fees have been set at NPR 200 for students and NPR 300 for the general public.