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GLOBAL VISION GENEVA / MICROCOSMOS / BABEL 2.0
Digital montage by Michael O'Callaghan © 2015-2026 Global Vision Foundation10m x 12.6m (33ft x 41ft 4 inches), 600dpi, 3.7 Gigabytes. 2015-2025. The original work is a huge very high resolution image with numerous details not visible in the much smaller image published here. It was made without using AI. Updated 10 May 2026.
OVERVIEW
This image is an allegory of Geneva as microcosm of the planet... and the potential cradle or catalyst of a global Renaissance.
I created this image as a metaphor (and basis for thinking about) the Politics of Perception cinéma vérité documentary film, which I plan to shoot during a special event called Global Vision Geneva which I hope to convene in 2026. This event includes a high-level conference for planetary stakeholders to engage in critical thinking and collective sensemaking about the part each of us plays in the global meta-crisis.
The centrepiece of the picture is Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s 1563 masterpiece, The Tower of Babel, which symbolises the old bronze age myth about divine retribution for hubris by the division of languages and the end of mutual understanding. This evokes today's fragmentation of knowledge in specialised disciplines, the need for transdisciplinary thinking and for intersectoral/international global sensemaking for collaboration on the transition to a democratic, equitable, sustainable, and regenerative planetary future.
I situated the tower Geneva at the heart of Europe, by replacing Breughel’s background with a photograph of the city taken from the lakeside balcony of my old family home at 29 Quai du Mont-Blanc. I chose the setting because Geneva is the de facto hub of global governance where the planetary meridians of politics, trade, finance and civil society intersect.
Geneva has an illustrious history of humanitarian engagement and direct democracy. It embodies the greatest concentration of global stakeholders on this planet (far more than Washington, NYC, London, or Beijing). Geneva hosts the European headquarters of the United Nations, and is the operational centre of the whole UN system. It is home to 37 UN organisations and intergovernmental agencies, 380 global NGOs, 177 national embassies, 130 transnational corporations, 63 banks, over 500 commodity traders and 1,000 hedge funds. The city hosts 4,000 annual visits by heads of state and ministers, 2,700 annual inter-governmental meetings, and a community of 42,000 people working at the global level.
If you know Geneva you may recognise some local features including the town’s waterfront and lake. The most obvious ones are the Salève mountain and the snow-capped Mont Blanc on the horizon; the hill of Cologny on the left; the houses along the waterfront of the Quai Gustave Ador; the old Neptune sailing bark; the iconic Jet d’Eau fountain; the POÉSIE sign at the Bains des Pâquis; the tourists’ Flower Clock in the foreground. Other local features include the Coop, Migros and Denner supermarket chains; the Asloca tenants’ legal association; the SIG public utility (which provides Geneva’s essential services including energy, water, optical fibres and waste-treatment networks); the Pharmacie Principale; the Manor store; the Favargé chocolate shop; the FNAC, Payot and Rameau d’Or bookshops; the TPG public transport company; the CFF train company; a police station; a post office; the Lotterie Romande; the Cotton Pub hangout for commodity traders; the Fondation Hans Wilsdorf (and its modern bridge) which funds many local institutions; the Fondation Martin Bodmer whose museum houses a world-class collection of rare manuscripts; the Beau Rivage hotel; La Réserve hotel and spa; the Clémence bistrot at the Bourg de Four, and the Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in the Old Town.
The tower of Babel is crowned by the Whole Earth Flag and the logo of the United Nations which embodies the community of nations, the international rules-based system and the presence of the UN’s European headquarters (and de facto operational hub of the entire UN system) in Geneva. Almost in the clouds, the Broken Chair sculpture by Daniel Berset (which adorns the Place des Nations) reminds us of the atrocity of landmines and the scourge of war.
I bedecked the crumbling Tower with the logos of emblematic public- and private-interest planetary stakeholders who all jostle for influence, sometimes collaborate but often work at cross-purposes in a conflict of worldviews that forms a complex dynamic system that no-one can fully understand. These include UN agencies, NGOs, transnational corporations, think tanks, banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, commodity traders, shipping companies, fossil fuel and mining companies, airlines, automobile companies, luxury brands, entertainment companies, a reinsurance firm, intelligence agencies, news publishers and social media brands. Many among them are headquartered in Geneva.
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DESCRIPTION
Starting on the lower left of the tower, we see the logos of some Geneva’s common retailers and public transportation companies, along with some graffiti, posters and homeless people.
Above them are the logos of many local and international banks, luxury brands, and leading media groups.
The upper tiers of the Tower feature some of the most important UN agencies and civil society organisations which collaborate to build the planetary civilisation of the future. Most of them are either based or present in Geneva.
On the lower right notice the world’s biggest mining companies, commodity traders, arms manufacturers, big pharma and big biotech companies. Above them are the intelligence agencies of the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Russia and China, above a cave containing a giant quantum computer protected by an AI killer robot. Gollum lurks by the cave. Near him are the logos of major governmental and private intelligence agencies and a cluster of mass surveillance antennae.
Down in the harbour on the lower right of the picture, a boatload of African refugees prepares for a landing. Two sailing ships flying the flags of royal Spain bring plundered gold extracted from distant colonies. This loot is being unloaded off smaller rowboats and then brought by a train of horse-drawn carts uphill through the Porte de la Treille and the city walls for safekeeping by Geneva's famous banks and wealth managers. A Biblical golden calf statue crowned with a red MAGA cap presides over the quay, next to a million-dollar Ferrari sports car, a consignment of tree logs cut from a rainforest, a cargo of radioactive waste barrels, and a heap of gold ingots. As if in revenge, Hergé’s Inca mummy Rascar Capac hurls his poisonous crystal ball at the cursed gold.
The lower right foreground features an idyllic scene on the hillside above the lake. Some deer and a fox graze in peaceful meadows. The Goddess Venus lies naked in the long grass. Entheogenic Amanita muscaria mushrooms grow at the foot of a nearby tree. Hidden in the bushes beside the lake, a Raphael madonna nurses her divine child. Some nude Dionysian revellers dance a roundel as if they were still in Paradise.
In the lower left corner of the picture, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (portrayed by Maurice Quentin de la Tour in 1753) looks us in the eye. He said “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they”. I included this portrait of the author of The Social Contract and the Discourse on Inequality to evoke the universal aspirations for justice and democracy, which are deeply embodied in the famous "Esprit de Genève / Spirit of Geneva", and are now so gravely imperiled around the world.
In the background behind Rousseau stand a number of important thinkers and philosophers: Jean Calvin holding the Geneva flag, (from an anonymous portrait of him made c. 1550). Next to him in the top row from left to right are Pico della Mirandola (here represented by a self-portrait of Raphael de Santis), Plato, Giordano Bruno, René Descartes and Galileo Galilei. In the front row from left to right are Socrates (in the yellow robe), Albert Einstein, the great transdisciplinary systems thinker and biological philosopher Gregory Bateson, and the cognitive scientist and philosopher Francisco J. Varela. On the far right I replaced the head of the elegant man dressed in red in Brueghel’s original painting with Agnolo Bronzino’s 1560 portrait of the great renaissance humanist, philanthropist and patron of the arts Lorenzo de’ Medici (a.k.a Lorenzo the Magnificent, 1449 – 1492), to remind us of the importance of philanthropy for the arts, sciences and the humanities.
At the forefront of this group stands a representation of the Great Goddess, adapted from the depiction of the Virgin Mary in the 1452 Ghent Altarpiece (a.k.a the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) polyptych by Jan and Humbert Van Eyck. The Goddess is staring at a crystal ball to ascertain the future of life on Earth. She is surrounded by a representative selection of local Geneva wildlife who recognize her divinity.
Surrounding the Goddess is a semi circle of wild animals to represent the local Geneva fauna: a roe deer and fawn (Capreolus capreolus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Eurasian magpie (Pica pica), frog, fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) and the common European viper or adder (Vipera berus). These sentient beings recognise and sit transfixed by Her sacred glory. Notice the entheogenic magic mushrooms (psilocybe semilanceata, a.k.a liberty cap or fairy cap) at her feet.
To further represent the biodiversity of Geneva’s local ecosystem elsewhere in the picture I include the emblematic local wildlife species of boar, beech or stone marten (Martes foina), mute swan (Cygnus olor), cormorant, owl, grey heron (Ardea cinerea) and damselfly.) Over the lake to the left of the Tower, a looming tornado with bolts of lightning reminds of the imminent danger of the global meta-crisis whose tangle of catastrophic and existential risks now threaten the future of life on Earth.
Needless to say, this allegorical mise-en-scène is situated in the realm of myth, outside of time, as symbolised by the returning swallow in the right of the sky above (representing the cycle of seasons), a surreal melting watch (from Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory), and the Tibetan Buddhist Kalachakra mandala (symbolising the individuation of the psyche in the Great Wheel of Time).
ARTISTIC AIM
My artistic aim of this metaphor is to evoke the complex tangle of international organisations and transnational corporations which form our globalised world. I wanted to evoke the magnitude of the untapped potential for Humankind to implement the transition to a democratic, equitable, sustainable and regenerative planetary future before it is too late. Consider the tangle of public and private planetary players identified by their logos around the Tower. Many of them profess common goals like corporate responsibility, ethical investment, respect for human rights, environmental protection including «net zero» greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, etc. But despite these aspirations, most of these stakeholders continue to work at cross purposes. Some of them even play the role of global bad guys who block the transition through powerful lobbies, disinformation and with every other means at their disposal. Paradoxically, this coincidence of opposites is a classic case of a double bind from which there seems to be no escape unless it is observed from a larger context “outside the box”. But this crisis therefore contains a vast untapped opportunity for creative system change. It is in this sense that Geneva embodies a unique albeit untapped potential to become the cradle of a global Renaissance.
This idea would be a naive utopian dream, were it not for the fact that the collective sensemaking required for opposing planetary stakeholders to collaborate and coordinate their strategies effectively depends essentially on critical thinking based on the innate human ability to distinguish knowledge from opinion. This small step for the individual would be a giant leap for Homo sapiens. It’s easy to do, its empowering, and it’s the most important thing that we all can do to make a difference.
STRATEGIC PURPOSE
I created this Global Vision Geneva image to promote and raise funds for my forthcoming Politics of Perception film, which is artistically designed to situate the responsible observer at the heart of a new global narrative. Perception is a political act!
AVAILABILITY
This 10m x 12.6m (33ft x 41ft 4 inches) artwork is a huge very high resolution digital montage created and saved as a Photoshop psb file which can be scaled down to any size. The image is suitable for large outdoor projection, digital screen display, and printing (on canvas, paper or metal) for wall hanging. All revenues from licensing and/or sales support the production of the Politics of Perception film. Please contact me for enquiries.
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FEATURED ARTWORKS
The main image is the Tower of Babel (1563) by Pieter Brueghel, with major modification to the background and foreground, and dozens of organisational logos.
The montage incorporates small representations of whole or partial works by other artists. (See details below). ATTRIBUTION OF FEATURED ARTWORK DETAILS BY OTHER ARTISTS. In chronological order:
9,000 year-old petroglyph from the Cueva de las Manos cave in Argentina.
Madonna Litta, by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1490).
Virgin Mary, detail from the from the Ghent Altarpiece polyptych by Jan and Humbert Van Eyck (1432).
Portrait of Ioannes Calvinus / Jean Calvin, by unknown artist (c. 1550).
Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by Maurice Quentin de la Tour (1753).
John Smith, The Blind Harper of Conway, with Penillion Singers by Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1793).
The Birth of Venus, by Alexandre Cabanel (1863).
The Youth of Bacchus (detail), by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1884).
The Persistence of Memory (detail), by Salvador Dali (1931).
Rascar Capac (a.k.a He-who-unleashes-the-fire-of-heaven), image of the Inca mummy from the Adventures of Tintin book The Seven Crystal Balls, by Hergé (c.1948).
Spirou and Fantasio, illustration with their marsupilami and Turbotraction I sports car, from the comic strip book series Spirou et Fantasio by André Franquin (c. 1956).
Che Guevara, poster by Jim Fitzpatrick (1968).
Skull painting (title unknown), by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1980s).
Broken Chair, sculpture by Daniel Berset (1997) which stands before the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva.
Flower Thrower mural by Banksy (2020).
Gollum from Peter Jackson’s film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001).
Anything to Say? sculpture of an empty chair beside the whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange (who had been offered political asylum in Geneva) by Davide Dormino (2015).
Gaia sculpture of a girl embracing the Earth, by Lorenzo Quinn (2017).
Support, giant arms sculpture, by Lorenzo Quinn (2017).
Blind Patriotism (2026), sculpture by Banksy (shown beneath the Whole Earth flag at the top of the tower)..
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FEATURED LOGOS
AccountancyDeloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PWC.
AI & Info-tech companiesAnthropic, Apple, DeepSeek, Huawei, Intel, Open AI, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Starlink, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited).
ArtsMAMCO, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Port Francs et Entrepôts de Genève.
Arms tradeAnduril, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, RTX / Raytheon, Swiss Arms.
AutomotiveBentley, MW, Ferrari, GM, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maserati, Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Tesla, Volvo, VW.
AviationAirbus, Boeing, EasyJet, Swiss, Virgin Atlantic.
Bankrupt companiesBCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International), Enron, First Republic Bank, Kodak, General Motors (taken over by new company with same name), Lehman Brothers, Monsanto (disgraced but acquired by Bayer), Northvolt, Silicon Valley Bank, Worldcom.
Banks, investment companies, asset managers and hedge funds BlackRock, BlueCrest, Bridgewater, Credit Suisse, Edmond de Rothschild Group, European Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, J. Safra Sarasin, Lombard Odier Group, SNB / BNS (National Bank of Switzerland), Pictet Asset Management, Raiffeisen, UBS, Unigestion, Union de Banques Privées Genevoises.
Biotech, chemical and pharmaceuticalsBASF, Bayer, Dupont, Monsanto, Novartis, Philips, Pfizer, Roche, Syngenta.
Civil society organisations (NGOs)350.org, Amnesty International, B Lab, Beyond Lab, Consumers International, CEO (Corporate Europe Observatory), Club of Rome, Corporate Watch, Cultural Survival, ETC Group, Ethos Foundation, Extinction Rebellion, Finance Watch, Food and Water Watch, FOE (Friends of the Earth International), Global Footprint Network, GM-free Ireland Network, GM Watch, Greenpeace International, Human Rights Watch, ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), International Forum on Globalization, IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development), IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature / World Conservation Union), La Via Campesina, Millennium Institute, Mind & Life Institute, MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Multinationales Responsables coalition, Navdanya, Open Democracy, PAN (Pesticide Action Network), Project Drawdown, Public Eye, RAN (Rainforest Action Network), SDG Lab, Slow Food International, Solar Impulse Foundation, South Centre, Sustainable Finance Geneva, Trial International, World Future Council, WWF International.
Commodity tradersADM, Bunge, Cargill, Glencore, Gunvor, Louis Dreyfus, Trafigura, Vitol.
Consulting & policy firms
Prime Economics
Consumer brands Agent Provocateur, AirBnB, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Fedex, Hublot, La Perla, MacDonalds, Nestlé, Nike, Nintendo, Sony, Starbucks, Swatch, Uber, UPS.
EducationEPFL, Graduate Institute Geneva, Le Rosey.
Entertainment Arte, Disney, Netflix, Nintendo, Sony, Universal, Warner Brothers,.
Graffiti, street art & postersAnarchist symbol, Biohazard sign, Radioactive sign, Rainbow flag (LGBTQ), Che Guevara poster, Flower Thrower (Banksy), Initiative Multinationales Responsables poster, Mafia organised crime sign, Marijuana sign, Peace sign, No Nukes!, Sustainable Development Goals.
FinanceAmerican Express, Bitcoin, HKE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange), JPXX (Japan Exchange Group), London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, NYSE, SSE (Shanghai Stock Exchange), Swiss Sustainable Finance, Unigestion, Visa Mastercard.
FoundationsBuilding Bridges Foundation, Ethos Foundation, Fondation pour Genève, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Fondation Hans Wilsdorf, Global Vision Foundation, Oak Foundation, Solar Impulse Foundation.
InsuranceSwiss Re
Intelligence & espionnage agenciesAlp Services (private based in Switzerland), Black Cube (Israel), Bundesnachrichtendienst (Germany), CIA - Central Intelligence Agency (USA), Crypto AG (private based in Switzerland), DGSE (France), GCHQ (UK), Ministry of State Security (China), Mossad (Israel), NJVD (Russia), NSA (USA), NSO Group (Israel / Pegasus spyware), Palantir (private USA), SVR (Russia).
Law courts & law firmsInternational Court of Justice, Oberson Abels.
Local fauna & flora
Asp Viper (Vipera aspis), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Boar (Sus scrofa), Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica), European Tree Frog (Hyla arborea), Fairy Cap (Psilocybe semilanceata), Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo, Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Grey Wolf (Canis lupus), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), Salamander (Salamandra salamandra).
Local Geneva landmarks (bars, bookshops, brands, cafés, hotels etc) and historic features Asloca (tenants’ association), Bains des Pâquis, Beau Rivage hotel, CFF train company, Cologny hill, Coop supermarket chain, an emblematic Companie Genevoise de Navigation paddle steamer, the Cotton Pub commodity traders’ hangout, La Clémence café, La Réserve Hotel & Spa, Denner supermarket chain, Favargé chocolate shop; the Flower Clock (Horloge Fleurie), FNAC retail chain, the Jeorges Luis Borges plaque in the Old Town, the Geneva flag, the plaque commemorating Geneva patriot Isaac Mercier, Lake Geneva / Léman, Le Rameau d’Or bookshop, Favergé, Lotterie Romande, MAMCO (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art), Manor store, the Mère Royaume saving Geneva during the Escalade attack by the Duke of Savoy in 1602, Migros supermarket chain, the Mont Blanc mountain, a Mouettes Genevoises water bus, La Neptune (last of Lake Leman’s traditional two-masted lateen sailing barques), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Payot bookshops, Pharmacie Principale, Police Genevoise, Ports Francs et Entrepôts de Genève free port, Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, the Salève mountain, SIG public utility (which provides Geneva’s essential services including energy, water, optical fibres and waste-treatment networks), Swisscom, Swiss Post, TPG public transport company.
Luxury brandsBentley, Burberry, Cartier, Céline, Chanel, Christie’s, Davidoff, Dior, Don Perignon, Ferrari, Gucci, Hermès, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Louboutin, Maserati, Omega, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Rolex, Rolls Royce, Sotheby’s, Versace, Victoria’s Secret, YSL.
MediaAFP, Al Jazeera, BBC News, Bilan, Bloomberg, Channel 4 News (UK), CNN, Democracy Now!, Der Spiegel, Elle, El País, EuroNews, Fox News, FT, Geneva Press Club (Club Suisse de la Presse), ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), IPS, Jeune Afrique, Le Monde, Le Temps, Mediapart, New York Times, O Globo, RSF (Reporters Without Borders), Resurgence / Ecologist magazine, Reuters, Russia Today, RTS Info, Tamedia, TED Conferences, The Guardian, The Intercept, Tribune de Genève, Vogue, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Wikileaks, Wikipedia, Xinhua. Add Mediapart
Mining & fossil fuel companies Adani Group, Anglo American, Barrick Gold, BHP Group, BP (Beyond Petroleum, formerly British Petroleum), Chevron, CNPC (China National Petroleum Company), Shenhua Energy, CNBM (China National Building Material Company), CoalIndia, EDF Energy, Exxon Mobil, Glencore, Halliburton, Holcim Group, Koch, Lukoil, Rio Tinto, Rosneft, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Sinopec, Texaco, Vitol.
OtherBeyond Lab (Geneva), Black Lives Matter movement, CRISPR (gene editing technology), DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe movement), European Union, Fridays for Future, Gaza in ruins, MAGA hat (on golden calf idol) OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), Palestine flag, SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance), Radioactive waste barrels, Tibet flag, WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development), World Economic Forum.
Public relations / perception managementBain & Company, BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe), BCG (Boston Consulting Group), Edelman, McKinsey & Co, Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe, Weber Shandwick.
ShippingCosco Shipping, Mersk.
Social mediaFacebook, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Open AI, WhatsApp, TikTok, X.
United Nations & other intergovernmental agencies and organisationsCERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research, ILO (International Labour Office), IMF (International Monetary Fund), IOM (International Organization for Migration), IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), UN (United Nations, whose global system operations are coordinated in Geneva), UNDP (UN Development Programme), UNEP (UN Environment Programme), UNESCO (UN Educational and Scientific Organisation), UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council), UNICEF (UN Children’s Fund), World Bank, WHO (World Health Organisation), WIPO (World Intellectual Property Rights Organisation), WTO (World Trade Organisation).
PEOPLE’S FACES
INDIVIDUALS
The IVth Dalai Lama (next to Wikipedia sign), Greta Thunberg (on the right of the Hotel de Ville restaurant);
ARTISTS (around the MAMCO sign), from left to right:
Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Weiwei, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh
MUSICIANS (surrounding the Gaia sculpture):
Keith Richards, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Sinéad O’Connor, Miles Davis.
WRITERS (through the windows of La Clémence bistrot):
Carl Jung (photo from Encylopaedia Brittanica, © Bettman / Getty Images), James Joyce (colorised BW 1928 photo by Berenice Abbot © Getty Images ?), Samuel Beckett (1986 photo by Jehle/ullstein bild via © Getty Images), Jorge Luis Borges (who lived and died in Geneva; 1982 photograph by Sara Facio), Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (from a portrait by Vasily Perov, c. 1872).
THE INTERNATIONAL GENEVA COMMUNITY
Prominent members of the "International Geneva" community (and of some other progressive global leaders) seated around two tables in front of the Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville (located in a XVIth century building in the Old Town).
Back row from left to right:
Michael O’Callaghan (information artist); Guillaume Chenevière; Isabelle Falconnier (journalist, former President of the Geneva Press Club / Club Suisse de la Presse); Sandrine Salerno (former Director, Sustainable Finance Geneva); Volker Turk (UN High Commissioner for Refugees); Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Director-General, WHO); Pascal Crittin (Director, RTS Swiss TV); Philippo Grandi (Commissioner of UNHCR - the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees); Mirjana Spoljaric Egger (President of ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross); Marc-Oliver Wähler (Director, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève); Fabrice Eggy (Director, Fondation pour Genève); Micheline Calmy-Rey (former President of the Swiss Confederation, Boardmember of GESDA - Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator); Joëlle Bertossa (head of the City of Geneva’s Department of Culture and Numerical Transition, member of many NGOs including Greenpeace and Public Eye); Patrick Odier (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lombard Odier Group. President, Swiss Sustainable Finance; President, Building Bridges); Celeste Saulo (Secretary-General, WMO - World Meteorological Organisation); Tatiana Valovaya (in blue dress, Director-General, UNOG - United Nations Office at Geneva); Audrey Azoulay (Director-General, UNESCO); António Guterres (Secretary-General, United Nations); Jeffrey Sachs (President, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network; Director, Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University); Sandrine Dixson-Declève (international climate change, sustainable development, sustainable finance and complex systems thought leader; former Co-President, Club of Rome); Agnes Callamard (Secretary-General, Amnesty International); Catherine Russell (Executive Director, UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund); Tomoko Akane (President, International Criminal Court); Prof. Charles Méla (President, Global Vision Foundation; former Director, Martin Bodmer Foundation); Carole Cadwalladr (investigative journalist and author); Maria Ressa (Nobel Peace Prize laureate, journalist, Professor of Professional Practice in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, NY).
Front row from left to right:
Sami Kanaan (former head of the city of Geneva’s Department of Culture); Marc Halle (Boardmember, Sustainable Finance Geneva; former Head of Policy, IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature); Christina Kitsos (former Mayor of Geneva); Alexis Favre (journalist, host of the weekly Infrarouge public affairs program on RTS Swiss TV); Geraldine Savary (President, Club Suisse de la Presse / Geneva Press Club); Philippe Lazzarini (Commissioner-General, UNWRA - United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East); Carlos Álvarez Pereira (Secretary General, Club of Rome); Navi Pillay (Chair, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory; former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; former Judge of the International Criminal Court); Ethel Aguilar (Director-General, IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature); Adil Najam (President, WWF International); Gilbert F. Houngbo (Director-General, ILO - International Labour Office); Marie-Laure Salles (seated in red jacket: Director, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies); Jim Skea (Chair, IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change); James E. Hansen (Director, Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the Earth Institute at Columbia University); Achim Steiner (Administrator, UNDP - United Nations Development Programme); Patricia Fuller (President and CEO, IISD - International Institute for Sustainable Development); Francesca Albanese (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories); Edgar Morin (author, Emeritus Director of Research, CNRS; Director, International Chair of Complexity, Fondation Maison des Science de l’Homme (FMSH) and UNESCO in Paris); Yanis Varoufakis (economist, Diem 25); Alfonso Gomez (standing on the right, Mayor of Geneva).
I created this image as a metaphor (and basis for thinking about) the Politics of Perception cinéma vérité documentary film, which I plan to shoot during a special event called Global Vision Geneva which I hope to convene in 2026. This event includes a high-level conference for planetary stakeholders to engage in critical thinking and collective sensemaking about the part each of us plays in the global meta-crisis.
The centrepiece of the picture is Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s 1563 masterpiece, The Tower of Babel, which symbolises the old bronze age myth about divine retribution for hubris by the division of languages and the end of mutual understanding. This evokes today's fragmentation of knowledge in specialised disciplines, the need for transdisciplinary thinking and for intersectoral/international global sensemaking for collaboration on the transition to a democratic, equitable, sustainable, and regenerative planetary future.
I situated the tower Geneva at the heart of Europe, by replacing Breughel’s background with a photograph of the city taken from the lakeside balcony of my old family home at 29 Quai du Mont-Blanc. I chose the setting because Geneva is the de facto hub of global governance where the planetary meridians of politics, trade, finance and civil society intersect.
Geneva has an illustrious history of humanitarian engagement and direct democracy. It embodies the greatest concentration of global stakeholders on this planet (far more than Washington, NYC, London, or Beijing). Geneva hosts the European headquarters of the United Nations, and is the operational centre of the whole UN system. It is home to 37 UN organisations and intergovernmental agencies, 380 global NGOs, 177 national embassies, 130 transnational corporations, 63 banks, over 500 commodity traders and 1,000 hedge funds. The city hosts 4,000 annual visits by heads of state and ministers, 2,700 annual inter-governmental meetings, and a community of 42,000 people working at the global level.
If you know Geneva you may recognise some local features including the town’s waterfront and lake. The most obvious ones are the Salève mountain and the snow-capped Mont Blanc on the horizon; the hill of Cologny on the left; the houses along the waterfront of the Quai Gustave Ador; the old Neptune sailing bark; the iconic Jet d’Eau fountain; the POÉSIE sign at the Bains des Pâquis; the tourists’ Flower Clock in the foreground. Other local features include the Coop, Migros and Denner supermarket chains; the Asloca tenants’ legal association; the SIG public utility (which provides Geneva’s essential services including energy, water, optical fibres and waste-treatment networks); the Pharmacie Principale; the Manor store; the Favargé chocolate shop; the FNAC, Payot and Rameau d’Or bookshops; the TPG public transport company; the CFF train company; a police station; a post office; the Lotterie Romande; the Cotton Pub hangout for commodity traders; the Fondation Hans Wilsdorf (and its modern bridge) which funds many local institutions; the Fondation Martin Bodmer whose museum houses a world-class collection of rare manuscripts; the Beau Rivage hotel; La Réserve hotel and spa; the Clémence bistrot at the Bourg de Four, and the Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in the Old Town.
The tower of Babel is crowned by the Whole Earth Flag and the logo of the United Nations which embodies the community of nations, the international rules-based system and the presence of the UN’s European headquarters (and de facto operational hub of the entire UN system) in Geneva. Almost in the clouds, the Broken Chair sculpture by Daniel Berset (which adorns the Place des Nations) reminds us of the atrocity of landmines and the scourge of war.
I bedecked the crumbling Tower with the logos of emblematic public- and private-interest planetary stakeholders who all jostle for influence, sometimes collaborate but often work at cross-purposes in a conflict of worldviews that forms a complex dynamic system that no-one can fully understand. These include UN agencies, NGOs, transnational corporations, think tanks, banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, commodity traders, shipping companies, fossil fuel and mining companies, airlines, automobile companies, luxury brands, entertainment companies, a reinsurance firm, intelligence agencies, news publishers and social media brands. Many among them are headquartered in Geneva.
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DESCRIPTION
Starting on the lower left of the tower, we see the logos of some Geneva’s common retailers and public transportation companies, along with some graffiti, posters and homeless people.
Above them are the logos of many local and international banks, luxury brands, and leading media groups.
The upper tiers of the Tower feature some of the most important UN agencies and civil society organisations which collaborate to build the planetary civilisation of the future. Most of them are either based or present in Geneva.
On the lower right notice the world’s biggest mining companies, commodity traders, arms manufacturers, big pharma and big biotech companies. Above them are the intelligence agencies of the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Russia and China, above a cave containing a giant quantum computer protected by an AI killer robot. Gollum lurks by the cave. Near him are the logos of major governmental and private intelligence agencies and a cluster of mass surveillance antennae.
Down in the harbour on the lower right of the picture, a boatload of African refugees prepares for a landing. Two sailing ships flying the flags of royal Spain bring plundered gold extracted from distant colonies. This loot is being unloaded off smaller rowboats and then brought by a train of horse-drawn carts uphill through the Porte de la Treille and the city walls for safekeeping by Geneva's famous banks and wealth managers. A Biblical golden calf statue crowned with a red MAGA cap presides over the quay, next to a million-dollar Ferrari sports car, a consignment of tree logs cut from a rainforest, a cargo of radioactive waste barrels, and a heap of gold ingots. As if in revenge, Hergé’s Inca mummy Rascar Capac hurls his poisonous crystal ball at the cursed gold.
The lower right foreground features an idyllic scene on the hillside above the lake. Some deer and a fox graze in peaceful meadows. The Goddess Venus lies naked in the long grass. Entheogenic Amanita muscaria mushrooms grow at the foot of a nearby tree. Hidden in the bushes beside the lake, a Raphael madonna nurses her divine child. Some nude Dionysian revellers dance a roundel as if they were still in Paradise.
In the lower left corner of the picture, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (portrayed by Maurice Quentin de la Tour in 1753) looks us in the eye. He said “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they”. I included this portrait of the author of The Social Contract and the Discourse on Inequality to evoke the universal aspirations for justice and democracy, which are deeply embodied in the famous "Esprit de Genève / Spirit of Geneva", and are now so gravely imperiled around the world.
In the background behind Rousseau stand a number of important thinkers and philosophers: Jean Calvin holding the Geneva flag, (from an anonymous portrait of him made c. 1550). Next to him in the top row from left to right are Pico della Mirandola (here represented by a self-portrait of Raphael de Santis), Plato, Giordano Bruno, René Descartes and Galileo Galilei. In the front row from left to right are Socrates (in the yellow robe), Albert Einstein, the great transdisciplinary systems thinker and biological philosopher Gregory Bateson, and the cognitive scientist and philosopher Francisco J. Varela. On the far right I replaced the head of the elegant man dressed in red in Brueghel’s original painting with Agnolo Bronzino’s 1560 portrait of the great renaissance humanist, philanthropist and patron of the arts Lorenzo de’ Medici (a.k.a Lorenzo the Magnificent, 1449 – 1492), to remind us of the importance of philanthropy for the arts, sciences and the humanities.
At the forefront of this group stands a representation of the Great Goddess, adapted from the depiction of the Virgin Mary in the 1452 Ghent Altarpiece (a.k.a the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) polyptych by Jan and Humbert Van Eyck. The Goddess is staring at a crystal ball to ascertain the future of life on Earth. She is surrounded by a representative selection of local Geneva wildlife who recognize her divinity.
Surrounding the Goddess is a semi circle of wild animals to represent the local Geneva fauna: a roe deer and fawn (Capreolus capreolus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Eurasian magpie (Pica pica), frog, fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) and the common European viper or adder (Vipera berus). These sentient beings recognise and sit transfixed by Her sacred glory. Notice the entheogenic magic mushrooms (psilocybe semilanceata, a.k.a liberty cap or fairy cap) at her feet.
To further represent the biodiversity of Geneva’s local ecosystem elsewhere in the picture I include the emblematic local wildlife species of boar, beech or stone marten (Martes foina), mute swan (Cygnus olor), cormorant, owl, grey heron (Ardea cinerea) and damselfly.) Over the lake to the left of the Tower, a looming tornado with bolts of lightning reminds of the imminent danger of the global meta-crisis whose tangle of catastrophic and existential risks now threaten the future of life on Earth.
Needless to say, this allegorical mise-en-scène is situated in the realm of myth, outside of time, as symbolised by the returning swallow in the right of the sky above (representing the cycle of seasons), a surreal melting watch (from Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory), and the Tibetan Buddhist Kalachakra mandala (symbolising the individuation of the psyche in the Great Wheel of Time).
ARTISTIC AIM
My artistic aim of this metaphor is to evoke the complex tangle of international organisations and transnational corporations which form our globalised world. I wanted to evoke the magnitude of the untapped potential for Humankind to implement the transition to a democratic, equitable, sustainable and regenerative planetary future before it is too late. Consider the tangle of public and private planetary players identified by their logos around the Tower. Many of them profess common goals like corporate responsibility, ethical investment, respect for human rights, environmental protection including «net zero» greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, etc. But despite these aspirations, most of these stakeholders continue to work at cross purposes. Some of them even play the role of global bad guys who block the transition through powerful lobbies, disinformation and with every other means at their disposal. Paradoxically, this coincidence of opposites is a classic case of a double bind from which there seems to be no escape unless it is observed from a larger context “outside the box”. But this crisis therefore contains a vast untapped opportunity for creative system change. It is in this sense that Geneva embodies a unique albeit untapped potential to become the cradle of a global Renaissance.
This idea would be a naive utopian dream, were it not for the fact that the collective sensemaking required for opposing planetary stakeholders to collaborate and coordinate their strategies effectively depends essentially on critical thinking based on the innate human ability to distinguish knowledge from opinion. This small step for the individual would be a giant leap for Homo sapiens. It’s easy to do, its empowering, and it’s the most important thing that we all can do to make a difference.
STRATEGIC PURPOSE
I created this Global Vision Geneva image to promote and raise funds for my forthcoming Politics of Perception film, which is artistically designed to situate the responsible observer at the heart of a new global narrative. Perception is a political act!
AVAILABILITY
This 10m x 12.6m (33ft x 41ft 4 inches) artwork is a huge very high resolution digital montage created and saved as a Photoshop psb file which can be scaled down to any size. The image is suitable for large outdoor projection, digital screen display, and printing (on canvas, paper or metal) for wall hanging. All revenues from licensing and/or sales support the production of the Politics of Perception film. Please contact me for enquiries.
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FEATURED ARTWORKS
The main image is the Tower of Babel (1563) by Pieter Brueghel, with major modification to the background and foreground, and dozens of organisational logos.
The montage incorporates small representations of whole or partial works by other artists. (See details below). ATTRIBUTION OF FEATURED ARTWORK DETAILS BY OTHER ARTISTS. In chronological order:
9,000 year-old petroglyph from the Cueva de las Manos cave in Argentina.
Madonna Litta, by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1490).
Virgin Mary, detail from the from the Ghent Altarpiece polyptych by Jan and Humbert Van Eyck (1432).
Portrait of Ioannes Calvinus / Jean Calvin, by unknown artist (c. 1550).
Portrait of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by Maurice Quentin de la Tour (1753).
John Smith, The Blind Harper of Conway, with Penillion Singers by Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1793).
The Birth of Venus, by Alexandre Cabanel (1863).
The Youth of Bacchus (detail), by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1884).
The Persistence of Memory (detail), by Salvador Dali (1931).
Rascar Capac (a.k.a He-who-unleashes-the-fire-of-heaven), image of the Inca mummy from the Adventures of Tintin book The Seven Crystal Balls, by Hergé (c.1948).
Spirou and Fantasio, illustration with their marsupilami and Turbotraction I sports car, from the comic strip book series Spirou et Fantasio by André Franquin (c. 1956).
Che Guevara, poster by Jim Fitzpatrick (1968).
Skull painting (title unknown), by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1980s).
Broken Chair, sculpture by Daniel Berset (1997) which stands before the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva.
Flower Thrower mural by Banksy (2020).
Gollum from Peter Jackson’s film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001).
Anything to Say? sculpture of an empty chair beside the whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange (who had been offered political asylum in Geneva) by Davide Dormino (2015).
Gaia sculpture of a girl embracing the Earth, by Lorenzo Quinn (2017).
Support, giant arms sculpture, by Lorenzo Quinn (2017).
Blind Patriotism (2026), sculpture by Banksy (shown beneath the Whole Earth flag at the top of the tower)..
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FEATURED LOGOS
AccountancyDeloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PWC.
AI & Info-tech companiesAnthropic, Apple, DeepSeek, Huawei, Intel, Open AI, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Starlink, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited).
ArtsMAMCO, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Port Francs et Entrepôts de Genève.
Arms tradeAnduril, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, RTX / Raytheon, Swiss Arms.
AutomotiveBentley, MW, Ferrari, GM, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maserati, Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Tesla, Volvo, VW.
AviationAirbus, Boeing, EasyJet, Swiss, Virgin Atlantic.
Bankrupt companiesBCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International), Enron, First Republic Bank, Kodak, General Motors (taken over by new company with same name), Lehman Brothers, Monsanto (disgraced but acquired by Bayer), Northvolt, Silicon Valley Bank, Worldcom.
Banks, investment companies, asset managers and hedge funds BlackRock, BlueCrest, Bridgewater, Credit Suisse, Edmond de Rothschild Group, European Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, J. Safra Sarasin, Lombard Odier Group, SNB / BNS (National Bank of Switzerland), Pictet Asset Management, Raiffeisen, UBS, Unigestion, Union de Banques Privées Genevoises.
Biotech, chemical and pharmaceuticalsBASF, Bayer, Dupont, Monsanto, Novartis, Philips, Pfizer, Roche, Syngenta.
Civil society organisations (NGOs)350.org, Amnesty International, B Lab, Beyond Lab, Consumers International, CEO (Corporate Europe Observatory), Club of Rome, Corporate Watch, Cultural Survival, ETC Group, Ethos Foundation, Extinction Rebellion, Finance Watch, Food and Water Watch, FOE (Friends of the Earth International), Global Footprint Network, GM-free Ireland Network, GM Watch, Greenpeace International, Human Rights Watch, ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), International Forum on Globalization, IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development), IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature / World Conservation Union), La Via Campesina, Millennium Institute, Mind & Life Institute, MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Multinationales Responsables coalition, Navdanya, Open Democracy, PAN (Pesticide Action Network), Project Drawdown, Public Eye, RAN (Rainforest Action Network), SDG Lab, Slow Food International, Solar Impulse Foundation, South Centre, Sustainable Finance Geneva, Trial International, World Future Council, WWF International.
Commodity tradersADM, Bunge, Cargill, Glencore, Gunvor, Louis Dreyfus, Trafigura, Vitol.
Consulting & policy firms
Prime Economics
Consumer brands Agent Provocateur, AirBnB, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Fedex, Hublot, La Perla, MacDonalds, Nestlé, Nike, Nintendo, Sony, Starbucks, Swatch, Uber, UPS.
EducationEPFL, Graduate Institute Geneva, Le Rosey.
Entertainment Arte, Disney, Netflix, Nintendo, Sony, Universal, Warner Brothers,.
Graffiti, street art & postersAnarchist symbol, Biohazard sign, Radioactive sign, Rainbow flag (LGBTQ), Che Guevara poster, Flower Thrower (Banksy), Initiative Multinationales Responsables poster, Mafia organised crime sign, Marijuana sign, Peace sign, No Nukes!, Sustainable Development Goals.
FinanceAmerican Express, Bitcoin, HKE (Hong Kong Stock Exchange), JPXX (Japan Exchange Group), London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, NYSE, SSE (Shanghai Stock Exchange), Swiss Sustainable Finance, Unigestion, Visa Mastercard.
FoundationsBuilding Bridges Foundation, Ethos Foundation, Fondation pour Genève, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Fondation Hans Wilsdorf, Global Vision Foundation, Oak Foundation, Solar Impulse Foundation.
InsuranceSwiss Re
Intelligence & espionnage agenciesAlp Services (private based in Switzerland), Black Cube (Israel), Bundesnachrichtendienst (Germany), CIA - Central Intelligence Agency (USA), Crypto AG (private based in Switzerland), DGSE (France), GCHQ (UK), Ministry of State Security (China), Mossad (Israel), NJVD (Russia), NSA (USA), NSO Group (Israel / Pegasus spyware), Palantir (private USA), SVR (Russia).
Law courts & law firmsInternational Court of Justice, Oberson Abels.
Local fauna & flora
Asp Viper (Vipera aspis), Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Boar (Sus scrofa), Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica), European Tree Frog (Hyla arborea), Fairy Cap (Psilocybe semilanceata), Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria), Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo, Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Grey Wolf (Canis lupus), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), Salamander (Salamandra salamandra).
Local Geneva landmarks (bars, bookshops, brands, cafés, hotels etc) and historic features Asloca (tenants’ association), Bains des Pâquis, Beau Rivage hotel, CFF train company, Cologny hill, Coop supermarket chain, an emblematic Companie Genevoise de Navigation paddle steamer, the Cotton Pub commodity traders’ hangout, La Clémence café, La Réserve Hotel & Spa, Denner supermarket chain, Favargé chocolate shop; the Flower Clock (Horloge Fleurie), FNAC retail chain, the Jeorges Luis Borges plaque in the Old Town, the Geneva flag, the plaque commemorating Geneva patriot Isaac Mercier, Lake Geneva / Léman, Le Rameau d’Or bookshop, Favergé, Lotterie Romande, MAMCO (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art), Manor store, the Mère Royaume saving Geneva during the Escalade attack by the Duke of Savoy in 1602, Migros supermarket chain, the Mont Blanc mountain, a Mouettes Genevoises water bus, La Neptune (last of Lake Leman’s traditional two-masted lateen sailing barques), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Payot bookshops, Pharmacie Principale, Police Genevoise, Ports Francs et Entrepôts de Genève free port, Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, the Salève mountain, SIG public utility (which provides Geneva’s essential services including energy, water, optical fibres and waste-treatment networks), Swisscom, Swiss Post, TPG public transport company.
Luxury brandsBentley, Burberry, Cartier, Céline, Chanel, Christie’s, Davidoff, Dior, Don Perignon, Ferrari, Gucci, Hermès, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Louboutin, Maserati, Omega, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Rolex, Rolls Royce, Sotheby’s, Versace, Victoria’s Secret, YSL.
MediaAFP, Al Jazeera, BBC News, Bilan, Bloomberg, Channel 4 News (UK), CNN, Democracy Now!, Der Spiegel, Elle, El País, EuroNews, Fox News, FT, Geneva Press Club (Club Suisse de la Presse), ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), IPS, Jeune Afrique, Le Monde, Le Temps, Mediapart, New York Times, O Globo, RSF (Reporters Without Borders), Resurgence / Ecologist magazine, Reuters, Russia Today, RTS Info, Tamedia, TED Conferences, The Guardian, The Intercept, Tribune de Genève, Vogue, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Wikileaks, Wikipedia, Xinhua. Add Mediapart
Mining & fossil fuel companies Adani Group, Anglo American, Barrick Gold, BHP Group, BP (Beyond Petroleum, formerly British Petroleum), Chevron, CNPC (China National Petroleum Company), Shenhua Energy, CNBM (China National Building Material Company), CoalIndia, EDF Energy, Exxon Mobil, Glencore, Halliburton, Holcim Group, Koch, Lukoil, Rio Tinto, Rosneft, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Sinopec, Texaco, Vitol.
OtherBeyond Lab (Geneva), Black Lives Matter movement, CRISPR (gene editing technology), DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe movement), European Union, Fridays for Future, Gaza in ruins, MAGA hat (on golden calf idol) OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), Palestine flag, SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance), Radioactive waste barrels, Tibet flag, WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development), World Economic Forum.
Public relations / perception managementBain & Company, BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe), BCG (Boston Consulting Group), Edelman, McKinsey & Co, Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe, Weber Shandwick.
ShippingCosco Shipping, Mersk.
Social mediaFacebook, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Open AI, WhatsApp, TikTok, X.
United Nations & other intergovernmental agencies and organisationsCERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research, ILO (International Labour Office), IMF (International Monetary Fund), IOM (International Organization for Migration), IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), UN (United Nations, whose global system operations are coordinated in Geneva), UNDP (UN Development Programme), UNEP (UN Environment Programme), UNESCO (UN Educational and Scientific Organisation), UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council), UNICEF (UN Children’s Fund), World Bank, WHO (World Health Organisation), WIPO (World Intellectual Property Rights Organisation), WTO (World Trade Organisation).
PEOPLE’S FACES
INDIVIDUALS
The IVth Dalai Lama (next to Wikipedia sign), Greta Thunberg (on the right of the Hotel de Ville restaurant);
ARTISTS (around the MAMCO sign), from left to right:
Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Weiwei, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh
MUSICIANS (surrounding the Gaia sculpture):
Keith Richards, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Sinéad O’Connor, Miles Davis.
WRITERS (through the windows of La Clémence bistrot):
Carl Jung (photo from Encylopaedia Brittanica, © Bettman / Getty Images), James Joyce (colorised BW 1928 photo by Berenice Abbot © Getty Images ?), Samuel Beckett (1986 photo by Jehle/ullstein bild via © Getty Images), Jorge Luis Borges (who lived and died in Geneva; 1982 photograph by Sara Facio), Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (from a portrait by Vasily Perov, c. 1872).
THE INTERNATIONAL GENEVA COMMUNITY
Prominent members of the "International Geneva" community (and of some other progressive global leaders) seated around two tables in front of the Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville (located in a XVIth century building in the Old Town).
Back row from left to right:
Michael O’Callaghan (information artist); Guillaume Chenevière; Isabelle Falconnier (journalist, former President of the Geneva Press Club / Club Suisse de la Presse); Sandrine Salerno (former Director, Sustainable Finance Geneva); Volker Turk (UN High Commissioner for Refugees); Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Director-General, WHO); Pascal Crittin (Director, RTS Swiss TV); Philippo Grandi (Commissioner of UNHCR - the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees); Mirjana Spoljaric Egger (President of ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross); Marc-Oliver Wähler (Director, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève); Fabrice Eggy (Director, Fondation pour Genève); Micheline Calmy-Rey (former President of the Swiss Confederation, Boardmember of GESDA - Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator); Joëlle Bertossa (head of the City of Geneva’s Department of Culture and Numerical Transition, member of many NGOs including Greenpeace and Public Eye); Patrick Odier (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lombard Odier Group. President, Swiss Sustainable Finance; President, Building Bridges); Celeste Saulo (Secretary-General, WMO - World Meteorological Organisation); Tatiana Valovaya (in blue dress, Director-General, UNOG - United Nations Office at Geneva); Audrey Azoulay (Director-General, UNESCO); António Guterres (Secretary-General, United Nations); Jeffrey Sachs (President, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network; Director, Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University); Sandrine Dixson-Declève (international climate change, sustainable development, sustainable finance and complex systems thought leader; former Co-President, Club of Rome); Agnes Callamard (Secretary-General, Amnesty International); Catherine Russell (Executive Director, UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund); Tomoko Akane (President, International Criminal Court); Prof. Charles Méla (President, Global Vision Foundation; former Director, Martin Bodmer Foundation); Carole Cadwalladr (investigative journalist and author); Maria Ressa (Nobel Peace Prize laureate, journalist, Professor of Professional Practice in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, NY).
Front row from left to right:
Sami Kanaan (former head of the city of Geneva’s Department of Culture); Marc Halle (Boardmember, Sustainable Finance Geneva; former Head of Policy, IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature); Christina Kitsos (former Mayor of Geneva); Alexis Favre (journalist, host of the weekly Infrarouge public affairs program on RTS Swiss TV); Geraldine Savary (President, Club Suisse de la Presse / Geneva Press Club); Philippe Lazzarini (Commissioner-General, UNWRA - United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East); Carlos Álvarez Pereira (Secretary General, Club of Rome); Navi Pillay (Chair, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory; former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; former Judge of the International Criminal Court); Ethel Aguilar (Director-General, IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature); Adil Najam (President, WWF International); Gilbert F. Houngbo (Director-General, ILO - International Labour Office); Marie-Laure Salles (seated in red jacket: Director, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies); Jim Skea (Chair, IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change); James E. Hansen (Director, Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the Earth Institute at Columbia University); Achim Steiner (Administrator, UNDP - United Nations Development Programme); Patricia Fuller (President and CEO, IISD - International Institute for Sustainable Development); Francesca Albanese (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories); Edgar Morin (author, Emeritus Director of Research, CNRS; Director, International Chair of Complexity, Fondation Maison des Science de l’Homme (FMSH) and UNESCO in Paris); Yanis Varoufakis (economist, Diem 25); Alfonso Gomez (standing on the right, Mayor of Geneva).