Roots begin by asking where we begin before asking where we are going.
Who are we? Stuck vs. grounded.
What grounds us?
Before we can grow, move or preserve, we must first ask what grounds us. Is it the land beneath our feet, our memories, our communities, our histories, or the places we call home?
This chapter explores the psychological and cultural foundations of being human — through ecology, trauma, identity, memory and place — asking what shapes us and what gives us belonging in an increasingly fluid, fast-moving world.
The programme explores
- Our relationship with the natural world
- The balance between stability, stagnation and grounding
- Identity and collective memory
- Ownership and belonging in cities
- The cultural histories we inherit and reinvent
Our roots
The Landesmuseum.
We host the event at the Landesmuseum, a place where personal and collective histories intersect. It asks us to consider not only the history of Switzerland, but the histories we all carry: cultural, familial, ecological and psychological.
The Roots programme explores what grounds us and how our identities form long before we begin to move through the world. The Landesmuseum becomes a place to ask where we begin before asking where we are going — it is situated at the intersection of Zurich's past and present.
Closing thought, into Chapter 2: what grounds us before we begin to move through the world?
Our speakers will ask
- 01
What grounds us within the natural world?
Natural world
- 02
What remains when our sense of home is disrupted?
Stability & grounding
- 03
Who gets to belong to a place?
Belonging in cities
- 04
What happens when we reinvent our cultural roots?
Cultural reinvention
Practical information.
- Venue
- Landesmuseum Zürich
- Language
- English
- Date & time
- 4 November 2026 · 18:00-22:00
- Accessibility & transport
- Details follow closer to the date
- Programme
- Coming soon
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