Khalil Berro

Khalil Berro is a Swiss-Lebanese contemporary artist, living and working in Zürich and Bedretto,

Work Berro's work investigates contemporary desires for energy, power, and material objects, while examining instances in which minerals, objects, and non-human entities influence or even override human agency. His practice is rooted in field expeditions and scientific collaborations, often to remote sites, including decommissioned and active coal mines, Alpine peaks, glaciers, palm oil plantations in Indonesia, and the oil and gas fields of Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan.

One of his notable projects, Breathe, is a public art installation that re-imagines reality through the origins of the air. The work was developed in collaboration with Dr. Michael Armand Sprenger, Dr. Hanna Joos, and Prof. Dr. Heini Wernli from the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich. The work was first exhibited at NOI Techpark in Bolzano, Italy, from July to August 2024. This was followed by installations at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C., in September 2024; at the main building of ETH Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland, later that same month; and at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai in Shanghai, China, in April 2025. The work questions atmospheric ownership and humanity’s relationship with water resources, particularly in the context of technologies like cloud seeding, and has stirred mild public outrage over the implications of weather manipulation. In 2025, Berro participated as a member of the Swiss delegation and speaker at the Shanghai Climate Ring during Shanghai Climate Week and is a recurring guest speaker at the Zurich School of Design.