From immersive theatre and ocean justice storytelling to hands-on art-making, slow fashion, and quiet spaces for reflection, the Creative Arts & Wellbeing program offers moments to pause, connect, and see the conference themes from new perspectives.
Featured Exhibitions & Activations
Empatheatre
Empatheatre creates community-rooted theatre that addresses societal challenges through empathy and performance. At TC/ESG25, they bring several powerful experiences that challenge perspectives and invite dialogue:
Unruly is a performance that invites audiences to dwell in the discomfort of complexity, asking: How should we, as humans, act towards a nature that doesn’t always behave the way we expect it to? This work challenges human exceptionalism and explores the dimensions of coexisting with unruly forms of life. Each Unruly performance is limited to 100 guests. Registration is available via the conference schedule at no additional cost.
In addition, Empatheatre will host a live dialogue with Mpume Mthombeni and screen Indlela Yokuphila and Blue Blanket, offering further opportunities to engage with their approach to socially engaged storytelling. They will also lead a pre-conference workshop, Meaning ∞ Making: Artistic Transgressive & Transformative Research in the Polycrises, which explores creative methodologies for research and engagement in complex global challenges.
- Kate Boswell – Multispecies Shapeshifters Sculptural works exploring human–nonhuman relationships in intertidal zones.
- Dylan McGarry – Our Ocean is Sacred VR and multi-genre storytelling on ocean heritage and justice.
- Vanessa Masterson – Picture This: Conservation Through a Gendered Lens A photovoice project from South Africa and Australia on transformation in conservation.
- Mia Strand – The Ocean Isn’t Just Blue A photographic call to ocean justice and equity, beyond the blue.
- Simangaliso Sibiya & Gopolang Ledwaba – Umuntu Akalahlwa Visual narratives of memory, kinship, and reclamation from Soweto.
- House of INVADE – The Archive of Unheard Solutions A participatory postcard intervention surfacing ancestral and grassroots knowledge.
Exhibition: The Ocean isn’t Just Blue by Mia Strand
Arts & Wellbeing Sessions
In addition to exhibitions and installations, interactive Arts & Wellbeing sessions are woven into the main conference program. They offer space for creative exploration and reflection, from storytelling and dialogue to movement workshops and collaborative art-making in nature, all grounded in the core themes of TC/ESG25.
Featured Session: Panel Roundtable – Art, Land & Spatial Politics
Thursday, 21 August, 10:30–12:00 | South African and African artists and designers explore land, history, and spatial politics in sustainability transformations. With Simangaliso Sibiya, Bekezela Mabena, Jade Hutchinson, Queenzela Mokoena & Nyakallo Phamuli, Naadira Patel. Explore more →
Featured Session: Growing the Adaptive Mind
Wednesday, 20 August, 13:00–14:30 | Experience practices from The Adaptive Mind Project, a skill-building initiative for navigating the mental, emotional, and relational challenges of climate and social crises. Includes body-centered, trauma-informed, and nature-based activities. With Susanne Moser. Explore more →
Featured Session: Inner Development in Academic Education
Tuesday, 19 August, 16:30–18:00 | Explore empathy, connectedness, visioning, and agency through practices from the IDG toolbox, positive psychology, systems thinking, authentic relating, and the Art of Hosting. Featuring Franziska Gaupp and Carolin Janssen. Explore more →
Featured Session: Climate Change Reflections through Art
Wednesday, 20 August, 16:30–18:00 | Discover the emotional landscape of climate change through the Art of the Anthropocene exhibition, moving from grief to “Finding Meaning” as a source of hope and action. A reflective session on art, emotion, and transformation with Estelle Gautier. Explore more →
Wellbeing & Reflection Spaces
Mindful Movement & Morning Meditation
A daily session led by Lucy Draper-Clarke, 7:45 am – 8:30 am, combining gentle somatic movement with guided meditation, tailored to the group and connected to each day’s conference themes. Practices may include yoga, qi gong, collective silence, or seated mindfulness, offering participants space to settle, focus & prepare for the day ahead.
Quiet Zones
If you need a break from the buzz of the conference, visit the designated Quiet Zone. This small alcove will be set up with beanbags, cushions, yoga mats, plants, and calming materials: a space to rest, reflect, or simply be still. For additional privacy, the Umpires’ Room will be available for quiet reflection, emotional decompression, breastfeeding, and pumping.
Artisan Tables
Meet local makers turning waste into beautiful, functional creations:
Cool Tabs – Creates accessories from recycled can tabs, including handbags, clutches, belts, and more. Founded by Aretha Doyle to reduce her carbon footprint, the venture began with a self-made handbag and grew through word-of-mouth orders.
Rolling Stitches – Produces handcrafted crocheted goods from materials like recycled cotton yarn, wool, and jute, sometimes accented with leather. Their soft, durable, washable range includes baskets, wine totes, coasters, bed throws, and mats.
The Antidote – Slow fashion as an act of resistance, transforming textile waste into ethical, beautifully made garments.
Plan your Creative Arts & Wellbeing journey at #TCESG25!
Check the program for arts sessions, explore the exhibitions, and make time to recharge in our wellbeing spaces.
More to Experience at TC/ESG 2025
🌌 A Night Under the Stars – Conference Dinner
Join us on 20 August at Indwe Park for an unforgettable evening of connection, creativity, and celebration. Enjoy welcome drinks to the uplifting rhythms of a live marimba band, followed by a traditional South African braai (BBQ). Evening highlights include The Antidote live studio activation, Dylan McGarry’s Our Ocean is Sacred VR installation, Hannelie Coetzee’s Intercontinental Watershed Walk & Studio Visit, and Stephanie Klarmann’s Held Captive photo exhibition. Arrival from 18:30 | Program begins at 19:30.
Seats are limited! Reserve your dinner ticket now →
🥂 Monday Evening Welcome Reception
Kick off the week on 18 August with an informal gathering at Wanderers, starting at 18:30 after the workshops. Enjoy a gumboots dance performance, a vibrant South African art form rooted in mining history, followed by short remarks from our hosts and partners. Light refreshments and drinks will be available. View event details →
🌿 Tour – Turning Trash into Treasures along the Jukskei River
If you’re not attending pre-conference workshops, join this guided tour of Alexandra’s eco-art initiatives on Monday morning, 18 August. Experience the SUNCASA Litter Traps and Art Project, transforming waste into community-led nature-based solutions. Watch discarded materials transform into eco-friendly litter traps, public art, and catalysts for biodiversity and climate action. Learn more and book your spot →
Bring Your Old Phone or Tablet to Support Digital Learning
Bring a gently used smartphone or tablet to the registration desk anytime during TC/ESG25. In partnership with Cell4Change, your donation will be refurbished and given to Early Childhood Development centres in under-resourced South African communities.
Get to know Johannesburg beyond the conference:
With so much to see, experience, and create, now’s the time to plan your TC/ESG25 journey. Check the program, reserve your spots for sessions, and make time for the moments that will inspire and connect us. See you in Johannesburg!
