VORTEX COLUMNS - STABLE IN DISTRIBUTION

Farila Neshat - Artist of Change as part of the CTM (Cultural Transformation Movement), which is co-funded by the EU programme Creative Europe and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport.

The intertwining of geopolitical conflicts with ecological destruction and social dislocation reveals a complex structure of effects that leaves profound traces in the natural environment and the human psyche in the political power dynamics. Historical and current conflicts illustrate that wars and geopolitical frictions not only shake social and economic structures, but also cause irreversible ecological damage. The devastation of landscapes, the creation of uninhabitable spaces and the loss of culturally anchored natural resources are expressions of a global phenomenon that extends from Afghanistan to Iraq to Ukraine. The long-term consequences of such conflicts go far beyond physical space and manifest themselves in collective memories, trauma and cultural transformation processes.

In Afghanistan, decades of military interventions have led to the contamination of entire areas of land with minefields, which not only prevent agricultural use but also pose a constant threat to people and animals. The ecological consequences of the Iraq War are similarly serious, during which Lake Urmia, once an essential part of everyday life, began to dry out and thus lost not only its ecological but also its social function. The systematic environmental destruction in the Vietnam War caused by chemical warfare agents such as Agent Orange shows the profound consequences of military conflicts on ecosystems and subsequent generations. Currently, this dynamic is evident in Ukraine, where attacks on water and energy infrastructure not only cause humanitarian disasters but also leave long-term ecological damage. The ecological consequences of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East are even more serious, especially in Palestine, where targeted destruction of agricultural land, water supply systems and settlement areas destabilizes the environment and permanently endangers the livelihoods of the population.