The Green Train in collaboration with European Sleeper
21–23 October 2025
Berlin – Amsterdam – Berlin
The Green Train is an interdisciplinary contemporary art programme designed to deepen public awareness of, and engagement with, European landscapes. It highlights the environmental advantages of train travel, using one of Europe’s most iconic international train lines as its conceptual foundation and starting point.
Travel more slowly, listen more deeply, and act more boldly for the planet.
The project brings together Nina Backman’s Silence Project and her environmental grassroots initiative A Million Trees to Finland, with European Sleeper and a network of environmental partners such as ARTE, ARTPRESS-Ute Weingarten, Podcast die Leichtigkeit der Kunst , The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, Life Terra, Thinking Forest Foundation, Mediamatic, Welna Estate, The Finnish Enviromental Institute (Syke), and The Finnland-Institut in Berlin to create a unique, art-driven international journey.
At its heart, The Green Train is a simple idea: travel more slowly, listen more deeply, and act more boldly for the planet by living more ecologically – and by planting trees. The Green Train becomes a moving venue for reflection, conversation, and creativity, with tree planting along the route and a dedicated “Tree Wagon” inside the train, gifted to all traveling passengers. This collaboration blends sustainable transport, ecological restoration, and cultural engagement into a single experience — one that connects people to landscapes, to communities, and to the quiet urgency of climate action.
The Green Train introduces a new and innovative way of connecting diverse partners through train lines, sharing environmental knowledge, fostering community tree planting, and showcasing contemporary art.
Learn more about The Green Train.
Community event at Mediamatic
The Green Train with European Sleeper: Riding the night, planting the future
22.10.2025, 10:00 -14:00
Mediamatic Biotoop Dijkspark Dijkspark 6, 1019BS Amsterdam.
Programme:
10:00–12:00: Seedling event at Mediamatic.
12:30–13:30: Join us for a bowl of warm soup.
The event takes place in our Tuinkamer & Hydroponics Greenhouse. The event will be filmed by ARTE tv.
The event is free. More info and tickets.
About Nina Backman
Nina Backman is a Finnish artist, performer, curator and founder of the Silence Project. She was born in Helsinki and originally studied Theatre Design at the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts in the UK. The hallmarks of silence weave through Backman’s art leaving traces of a veiled depth. In challenging the space between installation, performance and visual art, silence is integral to the artistic process. For Backman, silence brings together different but related elements within a conceptual frame, in turn creating new dialogues. These set out to invite critical reflection, to expose layers otherwise unnoticed, to challenge perceptions as yet outside our realm of experience. She has collaborated with a wide spectrum of creative disciplines including film, theatre, photography and design. Nina Backman is behind the performative piece Aino and the Silence Meal. She currently lives and works in Berlin.