Running alongside Tide of Returns, in the Research Room Ocean Space hosts the initiative Nature Speaks. Listening for Rights of Nature in Venice and Europe, curated by Pietro Consolandi and Amalia Rossi. 

As the world navigates today’s Anthropocene this exhibition is dedicated to the Rights of Nature, highlighting TBA21–Academy’s commitment to inspiring the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity through innovative artistic and cultural practices.

Nature Speaks. Listening for Rights of Nature in Venice and Europe is (2026) Ocean Space's Research Unit, curated by Pietro Consolandi and Amalia Rossi, co-produced by TBA21–Academy and NICHE Centre for Environmental Humanities, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia in collaboration with IDRA and the Confluence of European Water Bodies.

At the core of this initiative is a Policy Lab dedicated to advancing the Declaration of the Rights of the Venice Lagoon into a concrete legal proposal.

TBA21–Academy, in collaboration with NICHE Centre for Environmental Humanities, Ca' Foscari University Venice, and the grassroots network IDRA – Iniziativa per i Diritti delle Reti d’Acqua, is convening a Working Group to participate in the Policy Lab.

Find out more about the Open Call for the Working Group.

Pietro Consolandi is a researcher and artist based in Venice and the founder of the collective Barena Bianca. He serves as OCEAN / UNI Research Lead at TBA21–Academy and as a Research Fellow at NICHE, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where he investigates the cultural implementation of the Rights of Nature for the Venetian Lagoon and the hydrographic basin of Northern Italy. More broadly, his artistic and research practice originates from viewing the lagoon as a living entity with agency, aiming to explore the interconnections between this body of water and its inhabitants, human and non-human, from biological, sociological, and affective perspectives. This approach fosters the development of kinship systems with other wetlands and communities that share similar ecosystems, needs, and desires.

Amalia Rossi is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Research Fellow at the New Institute - Center for Environmental Humanities (NICHE) at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. She holds a PhD in Contemporary Anthropology (University of Milan Bicocca) and teaches Cultural Anthropology, Visual Anthropology, and Ecosophy at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) in Milan and Rome. Rossi has conducted fieldwork in Italy and Thailand and is an expert in political ecology, Buddhist studies, and the ethnography of social movements. Within NICHE, she has been one of the founders of the IDRA network and part of the drafting group of the Declaration of Rights of the Venice Lagoon.