Gesche Schifferdecker - Wildcard

Rewilding cultural imaginations: Reflections from an art exhibition in the forest

Gesche Schifferdecker on April 13, 2026

by Gesche Schifferdecker

How does rewilding speak to you? Why does it matter to you or your community? How can rewilding transform both landscapes and mindsets?

These were the questions we asked ourselves as we started our collaborative “Rewilding through Art” initiative between the WILDCARD and the REWRITE projects. These were also the questions we put forward, to invite anyone with a story, image, or idea about rewilding to share their vision with us. Our goal? An immersive exhibition in the forest with the vision to bridge art, science, and culture. And a virtual gallery with Meander, a new magazine for bioregional culture, slow living, and regenerative futures, who became a collaborating partner along the way.

An invitation that resonated

First of all, it was beautiful to see so many people – artists, citizens, NGOs, researchers – excited about the initiative and sharing the Open Call via their social media channels. Within a few weeks, our LinkedIn account had >200 more followers from several disciplines and fields of work – from rewilding practice to the creative sector. As submissions started coming in, we were even more astonished – there are so many ways to interpret and reflect upon “rewilding”: statues that are being sunk into the ocean, beautiful satellite images of rewilded areas, animal sculptures in real-life sizes created out of forest-based materials, installations in rivers, just to mention a few. While we were hoping to receive between 20 and 30 submissions, we ended up with more than 80 artwork submissions, coming from creatives from 19 countries.

Perspectives in dialogue: the jury

Our jury brought together a remarkable mix of perspectives from art, science, and environmental practice. Evgenia Emets is an artist, poet, and filmmaker whose work explores forests, biodiversity, and community engagement through installations, visual storytelling, and ecological performances. Tom Greenwood, founder and editor of Meander, draws on a background in marine biology and strategic design to connect ecological thinking, regenerative culture, and systems change through his magazine. Giorgio Alberti, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of Udine and coordinator of the Wildcard project, focuses on forest resilience, carbon dynamics, and climate mitigation. Cintia Organo Quintana, Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark and contributor to the REWRITE project, bridges research, teaching, and conservation with her work on plant ecology, biodiversity, and ecosystem restoration. Sara Chiba, consultant and EU project coordinator at Prospex Institute, specializes in stakeholder engagement and bringing diverse perspectives into environmental solutions.

Deciding on the final selection proved extraordinarily challenging. In the end, rather than the planned ten, the jury chose twelve artworks. This decision was not only linked to the exceptional quality of the submissions but also the need to honor the diversity in perspectives and expertise within our jury, ensuring that every voice was able to contribute to the conversation.

From concept to forest floor

However, if we thought selecting was a tough call, we were surprised how much effort it took to actually plan an exhibition in the forest, that was supposed to be part of the “Rewilding Forum” organized by WILDCARD. Permissions from the local forest service had to be granted, proper material needed to be selected, a local printing service had to be found, and a van was rented to bring the artworks to the forest. And easels. Most of us didn’t even know that word in English, but without easels, there would be no outdoors exhibition.

When we – colleagues from Prospex Institute, artist Evgenia Emets, and I – finally stood in the Freising forest on 25^th February, it was a moment of pride and excitement. We didn’t notice it was freezing cold (-2 degrees), but we enjoyed the mystical dust in the woods. We didn’t mind carrying the heavy artwork (and the easels) several hundred meters, but we were on a mission to make the careful selection visible – and we expected a big group of around 60 visitors, consisting of rewilding practitioners and scientists, stakeholders from policy, nature conservation, and the creative sector. Setting up the artwork was a muddy experience, but the work looked beautiful in the forest. With us were also three of the twelve artists, that were selected to present their work on the spot, while we had nice introductions prepared for the other artworks and their creators. And then the Rewilding Forum participants came and split into smaller groups to enable a more in-depth exchange.

Walking the exhibition together

Everyone started with visiting the three artists who joined the exhibition to introduce their work: Angelina Kumar, Diana Takacsova, and Inna Zrajaeva, who was representing Feral Malmö, a studio dedicated to reimagining relationships between people and nonhuman nature.

Angelina Kumar was the first to present. She is an artist, researcher and educator whose interdisciplinary practice connects ecology, community, and care. Her participatory sculpture “Hyphae of Kindness,” made from mycelium and fabric, draws on fungal networks to explore reciprocity, kindness and interdependence. When she told us how difficult it was for participants in her work to identify “acts of kindness” for themselves, it was obvious that the forest exhibition group was touched and reflecting about what kindness meant to them. Questions evolved around the contributors to the installation – it was open to the public – and to the knowledge these contributors gathered both about fungal networks and artistic practice. The stakeholder group was impressed with Angelina’s approach of expanding rewilding beyond landscapes to social and emotional renewal through a collaborative, artistic process.

Diana Takacsova was the second presenter. As a research-driven photographer and National Geographic Explorer, she explores environment, identity, and human relationships to place. With her project “Like a Flowing Path” she uses social documentary photography to show ecological restoration and cultural change in Slovakia’s inland Danube delta since 2022. The researchers in the group were interested in her collaboration with the scientists working in the Danube delta, and Diana shared her appreciation of their openness to “invite her into their boat”. She also emphasized how important it is for researchers to make their work visible, and documented it in a visually attractive way to highlight both biodiversity recovery and human stewardship within this transforming landscape.

The third artist was Inna Zrajaeva, representing Feral Malmö. She presented us with a photography of beautiful tiles designed in a Portuguese Art Nouveau style as part of a public workshop hosted at the Aveiro Ceramic Biennial in 2025, called “Rewilding the Salinas”. Inna Zrajaeva explained that during this workshop, participants were invited to paint species inhabiting the salinas today, focusing on four representative species and learning about their ecology through accompanying booklets and discussion with a scientist. Interestingly, we learned from the artist that people were more open to listen while they were painting – which led some Rewilding Forum participants to reflect upon their engagement strategies. We learned that sea pickles should not be harvested intensively, and that the European eel is facing extinction. Through “Rewilding the Salinas,” Feral Malmö highlighted the interplay between art, learning, and ecological awareness. In the Freising forest, Inna invited us to reflect on our role in nurturing resilient ecosystems and celebrating the species returning to these restored habitats.

All other artworks were then presented by us, the people leading the smaller groups of Rewilding Forum participants. While the audience was listening to our speeches and admiring the diverse artwork, we could see that it was not the same as listening to the artists themselves, and we reflected if it would be possible to increase the budget to invite more artists to travel next time.

An immersive space for reflection

What most participants – including myself – realized, is that art has a unique way of opening a reflective space that facts alone rarely manage to do for us. In the quiet of the forest, surrounded by images, stories, and shared curiosity, something shifted: conversations deepened, perspectives widened, and connections formed – between people, disciplines, and ways of seeing the world. What began as an exhibition became a living dialogue, where science met emotion, and knowledge met imagination.

Rewilding, we realized, is not only about restoring landscapes; it is about restoring relationships – between humans and nature, but also among ourselves. Through art, complex ideas can become tangible, and learning can emerge not as instruction, but as exchange. People listened differently and found common ground in unexpected places.

In this space, art did more than communicate – it connected. It invited us to pause, to question, and to imagine other worlds together. And perhaps that is where transformation begins: not only in changing ecosystems, but in rewilding how we think, feel, and relate to one another.

Are you curious to explore rewilding and the selected artworks yourself? The Exhibition Gallery, featuring 12 compelling responses to our Open Call, just launched on Meander magazine with diverse artworks for you to see, sense, and engage with.

WILDCARD meeting: science, collaboration, and a shared vision

Gesche Schifferdecker on March 2, 2026

Last week, our second annual WILDCARD meeting of took place in Freising from February 25–27, 2026. The three-day event brought together consortium partners to reflect on progress and shape the next phase of research on rewilding, forest dynamics, and climate resilience across Europe.

Hosted by Technical University of Munich, our exchange opened with field visits to the Echinger Lohe experimental site and Freising Forest, where our colleagues joined experts from the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry for an exclusive tour of a strict forest reserve, exploring long-term monitoring, nitrogen deposition impacts, ash dieback, and lasting legacies of historical land use. Our group also engaged with the WILDCARD Art Exhibition – an inspiring reminder of the importance of connecting science and society.

Artwork of Diana Takacsova (photo: Evgenia Emets)

Back on campus, discussions focused on advances across different work streams: biodiversity and carbon monitoring, economic and policy integration, and communication and management. In dedicated modelling sessions our colleagues highlighted progress with LandClim, FlamMap, and ForClim, strengthening links between disturbance dynamics, proforestation and afforestation pathways, and large-scale scenario development. Strong emphasis was placed on harmonising dendrometric, biodiversity, soil, and remote sensing datasets, and on integrating above- and belowground processes.

The Young Researchers’ Spotlight showcased cutting-edge studies on rewilding perceptions, drought resilience in unmanaged forests, agroforestry optimisation, microbial–carbon trade-offs, LiDAR-based structural indicators, and tree-related microhabitats – demonstrating the scientific depth and interdisciplinary strength of the consortium.

The meeting concluded with strategic discussions on policy briefs, cross-WP integration, and future milestones. Together, we reaffirmed WILDCARD’s shared ambition: delivering robust, policy-relevant science to support biodiversity recovery, climate mitigation, and resilient European landscapes.

Celebrating Women and Girls in Science: Spotlight on WILDCARD Researchers

Gesche Schifferdecker on February 11, 2026

Today, on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the we celebrate the contributions of female researchers who are advancing knowledge and innovation in rewilding and ecosystem restoration across Europe.

Sara Cazzaniga, a Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zurich, studies the invisible yet powerful world beneath our feet: soil microbes. While rewilding often focuses on visible changes in landscapes and wildlife, Sara’s work uncovers how bacterial and fungal communities drive ecosystem recovery from the ground up. By linking below-ground microbial processes to above-ground ecological outcomes, her research helps ensure that soil biodiversity is recognized in policy and restoration strategies, providing essential evidence for informed decision-making.

Lena Lopez, a PhD researcher at the Technical University of Munich, is driven by the potential of science to catalyse coexistence between humanity and nature. As part of WILDCARD, she models land allocation scenarios for rewilding and proforestation across the European Union. Her work explores how different land-use pathways can support biodiversity while considering social and economic dimensions, contributing valuable insights for policymakers and landowners.

Lucia Seebach, a researcher at the Forestry Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, brings a lifelong passion for environmental protection and geoecology to WILDCARD. Inspired by experiences in wild landscapes and national parks, she focuses on forests with the potential to become wild again. By accompanying natural forest development and studying ecosystem processes, Lucia’s research highlights the resilience of nature and the importance of giving ecosystems time and space to recover.

Together, Sara, Lena, and Lucia exemplify the interdisciplinary and forward-looking science at the heart of WILDCARD. Their work not only advances understanding of rewilding but also provides evidence to support sustainable land-use policies and biodiversity conservation. On this day, we proudly recognize their contributions and encourages the next generation of women and girls to pursue careers in science and environmental research.

Impressive contributions to the Rewilding Arts Initiative

Gesche Schifferdecker on February 5, 2026

The Rewilding Arts Initiative, coordinated with REWRITE, has received an inspiring wave of creative contributions from across Europe. A total of 84 artists from 19 different countries took part, offering a rich and diverse collection of works that reflect the growing intersection between art and ecological restoration.

The submissions span an impressive range of artworks. Paintings, drawings, and photography form the core of the collection, complemented by sculptures, videos, collages, and audio works. Together, these pieces demonstrate how artistic practice can engage with environmental themes in multiple sensory and conceptual ways, inviting audiences to experience rewilding not only as a scientific or policy-driven process but also as a cultural and emotional journey.

Many of the works explore rewilding approaches across diverse ecosystems, with a strong focus on forests and marine environments. Through visual storytelling, experimental forms, and poetic interpretations, the artists reimagine landscapes in recovery, highlight the resilience of nature, and communicate the urgency and beauty of ecological restoration. Their contributions show how art can play a crucial role in shaping public imagination, fostering empathy for natural systems, and opening up new narratives around coexistence and regeneration.

The first exhibition of selected works will take place on 24 and 25 February in a forest near Munich, as part of the upcoming Rewilding Forum. Up to ten pieces will be displayed in this immersive outdoor setting, allowing the artworks to interact directly with the natural environment they reference. Following this debut, the artworks will travel to WILDCARD’s Case Studies in 5 European countries, extending their reach to new audiences and contexts.

To further amplify these voices, the initiative will launch a dedicated social media campaign, sharing the artworks and the stories behind them with a broader public. Looking ahead, selected pieces will also be featured in the Meander Magazine in summer 2026, ensuring that the project continues to inspire conversations at the intersection of art, ecology, and rewilding.

This remarkable response from artists across Europe underscores the power of creative practice in shaping how we think about nature and restoration. The Rewilding Arts Initiative not only showcases creative excellence, but also builds a vibrant, cross-disciplinary platform where art becomes a catalyst for ecological imagination and action.

WILDCARD Rewilding Forum: register now for final spots!

Gesche Schifferdecker on January 21, 2026

Stakeholder Engagement activities in the forest, Germany

Do you want to discuss with us about how much rewilding is Europe ready to accept? Are you a researcher, policymaker, artist, or practitioner interested in exploring one of Europe’s most pressing environmental questions? If yes, make sure to express your interest and register quickly for the 2nd Rewilding Forum taking place on 24–25 February 2026 in Freising, Germany. Set against the implementation of the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, the forum will examine the role rewilding can play in addressing the twin climate and biodiversity crisis. You can find the programme here!

EU policymakers have acknowledged the scale of this challenge through the landmark Nature Restoration Law, which calls for restoring at least 20% of Europe’s land and sea areas by 2030, with restoration efforts extending across all ecosystems by 2050. As Member States begin to prepare and implement their national restoration plans, the WILDCARD project is generating critical insights into how far nature itself – through passive rewilding and non-intervention – can contribute to achieving these ambitious goals.

Our discussions will explore how people perceive rewilding, examining the social factors that enable or hinder public acceptance and highlighting potential gaps between EU-level ambitions and local perspectives. Participants will also consider how passive rewilding can be integrated into policy as a deliberate strategy to address biodiversity loss and land abandonment, and whether it can help foster more sustainable relationships between communities and nature. A further strand will look at how art and storytelling can shift perceptions, open up new ways of thinking, and reshape the public debate around rewilding.

On the second day, we will visit the Walddynamik experimental site to see the WILDCARD project in action, as well as the Freising Climate Forest. These field visits will offer a firsthand look at how research, practice, and art intersect on the ground.

Register your interest to join the 2^nd Rewilding Forum here.

WILDCARD can cover participation costs if needed.

Detailed travel and accommodation information will be provided after registration.

Featured image: Stakeholder Engagement activities in the forest, Germany (photo: Gesche Schifferdecker)

United in diversity – the hidden treasure of WILDCARD

Gesche Schifferdecker on January 12, 2026

by Lucia Seebach

Europe is unique. Within a relatively small geographical area, an extraordinary diversity unfolds: landscapes, climates, forests, and species form a natural treasure of remarkable richness. This biodiversity is one of Europe’s greatest strengths – but also one of its greatest challenges. Protecting and understanding biodiversity is not a one-time task; it is a continuous effort that can only succeed if we work together.

Diversity, by its nature, brings complexity. This is true not only for Europe’s ecosystems but also for the way we observe and measure them. Forests do not stop at national borders, yet the methods used to monitor them often do. While standards for forest inventories exist, each country or institution has developed its own dendrometric survey methods (the measurement of tree and stand characteristics such as tree diameter, height, volume, and growth), shaped by national priorities, management objectives, and historical tradition. As a result, long-term forest information has traditionally been built for regional or national analyses rather than for a harmonised European perspective.

And yet, within this diversity lies a hidden treasure. Across Europe, enormous amounts of valuable data already exist. The key question is: how can we bring this information together? How can we harmonise these datasets to unlock their full potential and create a “golden state” of knowledge that allows us to address pressing issues such as how to store carbon efficiently, reduce biodiversity loss, and understanding and responding to the impacts of climate change? Achieving this requires not only technical solutions, but also time, expertise, and resources to build and maintain a shared database capable of supporting a wide range of scientific and policy-driven questions.

Dendrometric survey (photo @Wevell v. Krüger)

What Is dendrometric data and why do we need it?

Dendrometric data form the backbone of forest monitoring. They include measurements such as tree diameter, species, height, volume, and deadwood – key indicators for forest structure, growth, and carbon stocks. Collecting such data is not new. In many countries, dendrometric measurements have been part of National Forest Inventories (NFIs) for centuries, providing invaluable long-term records.

In strict forest reserves (designated areas of forest set aside e.g. for conservation or research purposes), however, systematic dendrometric monitoring often started much later. One can imagine the current situation as a large puzzle: countless pieces collected over decades, sometimes centuries, using different shapes and scales, all in different countries. Today’s challenge is to fit these pieces together into a coherent European picture that allows us to understand past developments in forest reserves and respond effectively to current and future environmental challenges on a wider scale.

Lots of deadwood in the site Bechtaler Wald (photo @Lucia Seebach)

How we tackled this challenge in WILDCARD

Within WILDCARD, we addressed this challenge step by step. Firstly, we established a dedicated data taskforce to work on harmonisation issues and to develop a common data template. This meant dealing with very practical issues, such as different names for the same information, varying definitions, and how to handle tricky variables like deadwood.

The first harmonisation trials were carried out with internal project partners across a limited number of sites. Once the approach proved workable, we extended it to external partners within the European Forest Reserve Initiative (EuFoRIA) network, significantly increasing the number of contributing sites. The result is a unique and growing database that will serve as a valuable resource for future research and collaboration across Europe.

Recyling in site Schwarzahalden (photo @Lucia Seebach)

Data heroes behind the scenes

None of this would have been possible without the dedication of the project’s “data heroes.” Harmonising diverse datasets is demanding work, requiring both technical expertise and deep knowledge of forest monitoring practices. Key challenges included dealing with different levels of detail in the data and reconciling fundamentally different monitoring methods – for example, in deadwood assessment, where approaches can vary greatly between countries and institutions. But thanks to the commitment of colleagues of the institution Výzkumný ústav pro krajinu (VUK) in the Czech Republic, these challenges were overcome. VUK, a Public Research Institute dedicated to studying landscapes and their ecosystems, helped to compile dendrometric datasets from more than 800 forest sites all across Europe and harmonized the data within one database. This database ensures that Europe’s diverse forest data can now speak a common language.

In the end, WILDCARD shows that diversity is not a barrier but a strength – if we manage to unite it. By bringing together Europe’s rich and varied forest data of these valuable forest reserves, we are turning a hidden treasure into shared knowledge for the benefit of science, policy, and future generations.

Featured image: forest reserve „Siedigkopf“ in the Black Forest in Germany (photo @Alexandra Kage)

WILDCARD: The Forest Game Podcast launches

Gesche Schifferdecker on July 8, 2025

What if rewilding Europe were a strategic board game – where every forest hides a secret, and every move helps decide the fate of our ecosystems?

Welcome to WILDCARD. The Forest Game, an exciting new podcast that turns the complex science of ecological restoration into an immersive, continent-spanning adventure. Produced by our WILDCARD project in collaboration with Starter, this innovative audio series invites listeners to journey through Europe’s diverse and often overlooked forest landscapes, exploring how damaged ecosystems can be restored and reimagined.

Each episode of The Forest Game acts as a “strategic move” on a metaphorical game board. Listeners join scientists, researchers, and forest experts in unraveling stories of nature – from identifying remnants of true wilderness to balancing human needs with ecological integrity. Along the way, they encounter powerful narratives of transformation and hope, as well as strategies to bring forests back to life in all their complexity.

By using the metaphor of a board game, the podcast breaks down complex ecological concepts into engaging, accessible narratives. Every dice roll reveals new challenges – wildfires, invasive species, fragmentation – while each game square unveils a tale of resilience, research, and renewal. The result is a unique blend of entertainment and scientific insight, making forest restoration not only understandable, but thrilling.

The series is written by Silvia Giralucci (Starter) and produced under the scientific supervision of Giorgio Alberti from the University of Udine. Editorial guidance comes from Gesche Schifferdecker of the European Forest Institute (EFI), with voice-over by Rahel Könen and post-production by Santiago Alarcón, also of EFI.

Whether you’re an environmental enthusiast, a science lover, or simply curious about the future of Europe’s landscapes, WILDCARD. The Forest Game offers a fresh and thought-provoking perspective on one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Ready to roll the dice on the future of our forests? Tune in and play along: WILDCARD: The Forest Game Podcast – Wildcard

New WILDCARD paper on the role of passive restoration

Gesche Schifferdecker on March 11, 2025

The European Union has adopted the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) to combat the widespread degradation of ecosystems, aiming to restore at least 20% of land and sea areas by 2030. A major challenge now is ensuring its proper implementation across member states. Traditionally, active restoration—such as replanting or reintroducing species—has been the dominant approach. However, new research by WILDCARD scientists highlights the effectiveness of spontaneous ecological succession, or passive restoration, where nature recovers on its own under suitable conditions.

Based on a previous analysis from 2020, which encompassed 530 global studies across various terrestrial ecosystems (Prach and Walker 2020), WILDCARD’s Karel Prach and Petra Janečková did an analysis of 156 European studies. They found that spontaneous succession successfully restored vegetation in 67% of cases, with slightly higher results than the global study (where 60% of the cases were successfully restored). This method is cost-effective and, when applied correctly, can lead to long-term ecological recovery. Yet, passive restoration is rarely prioritized in large-scale projects, the researchers emphasize.

The study authors advocate for a greater reliance on natural processes, which can enhance biodiversity, improve ecosystem functions, and support climate resilience. With the NRL in place, the experts see an opportunity to rethink how restoration is approached across Europe, ensuring ecological integrity while maximizing cost efficiency.