Martin Tscholl

I am part of the working group Human–Nature Relations in the Anthropocene and work at the intersection of artistic research, photography, and media anthropology. In my artistic practice, I use various photographic methods to examine how the relationship between humans and nature is articulated in images, and what forms of knowledge can emerge from this. This work is part of my cumulative doctorate in artistic research within the SINTA programme at the University of Bern and Bern Academy of the Arts, in which I connect photographic practice with relational ontologies and image-theoretical thinking in the context of ecological questions. At the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, my focus is on relational image practices in the context of socio-ecological transformations, as well as on environmental communication and participatory digital formats such as Naturblick.

Publications and Talks

Talks

2026
Thinking With and Through Images: Photography, Nature Relations, and Epistemic Equity, Epistemic Equity, ESSCS 2026, University of Copenhagen, 24–28 August 2026

2026
Speculative Image Ecologies at the Forest Edge: Artistic Research on Urban Biodiversity in Berlin, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 June 2026, WBF2026-631, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-631, 2026.

2025
Photography as More-than-Human Inquiry – On Visual Thinking in Artistic Research Resonance, 16th International Conference on Artistic Research, Society of Artistic Research (SAR), University of Porto, 7–9 May 2025

2022
Imagining the Nonhuman – Visual Practices and Knowledge Production in Urban Biodiversity Research
Rethinking Sustainability through Applied Anthropology, 10th Conference of the Italian Society of Applied Anthropology (SIAA), Verona, 14–17 December 2022

2022
Photography and the Nonhuman
Caught in the Crisis? Doing Audio-Visual Ethnography in Times of Crisis, AG Visual Anthropology, CFP Interim Conference, Münster, 28–29 October 2022

2018
Picturing Nature – On Analyzing Images of Urban Natures in Digital Environments
Embedded Digitalities, Conference on Digital Anthropology (organized by the Swiss Society for Folklore Studies and the German Society for Empirical Cultural Studies), Basel, 5–7 April 2018

Selected Academic Publications

2026 (forthcoming)
Tscholl, Martin. The Forest Imaginary: Aesthetic Conditions of Relational Appearance. In: ArteActa. A Journal for Performing Arts and Artistic Research. ArteActa 2026, 15.

2026
Tscholl, Martin. Ökologien bildlich denken. Fotografische Praktiken zwischen Imagination und Wirklichkeit. In: Hannah Ambühl-Baur & Thomas Gartmann (eds.), Studies in the Arts III – Was Wissenschaft mit Kunst und Gesellschaft verbindet, Bielefeld: transcript, 2026, pp. 157–175. ISBN: 978-3-8376-8301-1.

2026
Tscholl, Martin & Ulrike Sturm. Artistic Research. In: Handbuch Partizipation in der Wissenschaft, Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

2022
Tscholl, Martin & Ulrike Sturm. Posting Nature: A Critical Perspective on Analysing Cultural Ecosystem Services on Instagram. Journal of Environmental Media, 3(2).

2022
Tscholl, Martin, Maike Weißpflug, Marco Wedel & Ulrike Sturm. People and Nature – Fostering Inter- and Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Biodiversity and Sustainable Human Interactions. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 35(3): 367–369.

2022
Tscholl, Martin, Maike Weißpflug, Marco Wedel & Ulrike Sturm (eds.). Special Issue: People and Nature. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 35(3)