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​Rjukan Solarpunk Academy emerged within the landscape of the Rjukan–Notodden Industrial Heritage Site, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2015. Around the same time, UNESCO expanded its recognition of cultural heritage beyond monuments and historic sites. In 2016, Yoga was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognising knowledge, practice and living traditions as forms of heritage in their own right.

Although these two forms of heritage may appear very different, they share a common challenge:

How do we keep heritage alive?

For Rjukan Solarpunk Academy, this question has gradually become central. Through projects such as Solarpunk Campus, Kunstnerleden and a growing network of artists, researchers and local initiatives, we have explored how heritage can function not only as something to preserve, but as a platform for participation, imagination and future-making.

At the same time, a growing body of international research points towards the need for new forms of cooperation capable of addressing inequality, ecological overshoot and questions of global justice. The Global Justice Project has become an important reference point in this conversation, exploring pathways towards good lives for all within planetary boundaries.

Trust in Humanity grows from the intersection of these conversations.

Developed through a collaboration between Tourist Trust in Agra, India, and Rjukan Solarpunk Academy in Norway, the initiative explores how cultural exchange, artistic practice, traditional knowledge and contemporary research can contribute to a more reciprocal understanding of sustainable futures.

The choice of Agra is not accidental. Home to one of the world's most visited cultural landmarks, the Taj Mahal, the city also exists within a rapidly changing social and ecological landscape that reflects many of the challenges facing the twenty-first century. Trust in Humanity therefore asks a simple question:

What forms of knowledge, relationship and cooperation become possible when heritage is understood not only as something we inherit, but as something we actively create together?

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SOLARPUNK IN RESIDENCE 2026:  Jaiveer Sharma

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The arrival of Jaiveer Sharma to Rjukan Solarpunk Academy opens a conversation about some of the deeper intellectual and cultural roots of Solarpunk itself.

While the term "Solarpunk" is relatively recent, many of the values associated with it—stewardship, sufficiency, community, participation and meaningful relationships between humans and nature—have much older histories.

In Norway, thinkers such as Arne Næss,Sigmund Kvaløy Sætereng and Nils Faarlund have influenced generations of artists, environmentalists and educators through ecological philosophy and a lifelong exploration of humanity's relationship with the living world. Less frequently acknowledged is how encounters with Himalayan landscapes, traditions and ways of life contributed to the development of these ideas.

Today, ecological philosophy itself can be understood as a form of living cultural heritage: a continuing conversation about what constitutes a good life, how humans relate to the more-than-human world, and how societies might flourish within ecological limits.

Jaiveer Sharma is a certified yoga-teacher, trained in Richikesh, considered the world capital of Yoga. He grew up in North India and was educated by a Himalayan teacher before spending decades working with tourism, community-building, union work, and various entrepreneur-projects within the tourism sector. He`s life experience has been shaped by many of the same cultural and philosophical landscapes that inspired parts of the Scandinavian ecological tradition.

His residency therefore creates an opportunity for dialogue—about different ways of understanding community, wellbeing, resilience and the relationship between people and the more-than-human world.

In this sense, Jaiveer's contribution extends beyond cultural exchange. It also invites reflection on how knowledge traditions, practices and ways of living are transmitted across generations and across cultures, shaping the intellectual foundations of movements that continue to influence contemporary discussions about ecology, sustainability and social transformation.

For Rjukan Solarpunk Academy, this feels less like introducing something new and more like continuing a conversation that has been unfolding for generations.

Seen from this perspective, Trust in Humanity is not only a cultural exchange project. It is also an exploration of how living heritage—whether expressed through industrial landscapes, ecological philosophy, artistic practice or traditions such as Yoga—can contribute to new conversations about global justice, planetary boundaries and the futures we are capable of imagining together.

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RESIDENCY PROGRAMME 2026

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From 15 July to 8 October 2026, the residency has three primary objectives:

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Trust in Humanity

Further development of Trust in Humanity as a platform for international cultural exchange between India and Norway.

The residency will focus on concept development, partnership building and long-term planning related to the establishment of cultural, educational and community-based activities in Agra. Particular attention will be given to how artistic practice, traditional knowledge and contemporary research can contribute to meaningful forms of international collaboration.

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The ``Vendepunkt``  Conversation

The residency coincides with the Norwegian government's ongoing Vendepunkt process, an initiative exploring future directions for Norwegian development policy through dialogue with civil society, researchers, organisations and international partners.

Many of the themes raised through Vendepunkt resonate with questions already being explored through Trust in Humanity: local knowledge, long-term partnerships, cultural exchange, global justice and new forms of international cooperation in a rapidly changing world.

Through conversations, artistic practice and collaborative reflection, the residency will contribute experiences and perspectives that may be relevant to these broader discussions.

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MOMENTS OF BLACKOUT

Participation in the groupshow MOMENTS OF BLACKOUT at KRAFT in Bergen through the project FULL POWER CAFÈ-

Developed in dialogue with Rjukan Solarpunk Academy, the FULL POWER CAFÈ explores energy in its many forms: as infrastructure, as social organisation, as ecological relationship and as lived human experience.

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