Fondation Suisse de Déminage — Campaign by twks: Turning a dead end into a way forward

A war can disappear from the headlines long before it disappears from the ground. Mines and unexploded ordnance remain buried long after the fighting has ended, continuing to threaten communities. In Switzerland, this reality is particularly difficult to grasp because we experience the exact opposite: we move through the world without thinking about the ground beneath our feet.

That contrast is where the idea began. When the ground can no longer be trusted, walking is no longer automatic. Every journey means making choices, hesitating and sometimes turning back. Every step becomes a gamble. To create empathy, the campaign could not simply inform people about this reality. It had to make them feel it.

At the Rotonde du Mont-Blanc, The Only Way Out takes the form of a huge maze laid directly on the ground. Several routes appear possible, but visitors encounter dead ends, retrace their steps and, as they make their way through, discover facts and realities about life in contaminated areas.

For a few minutes, something as simple as moving forward suddenly requires thought. The experience is, of course, symbolic: for visitors, the uncertainty ends when they leave the maze. For affected communities, it can accompany every journey they make for years.

The entire installation is built around a shift in perspective. From the ground, all you can see is a maze. It is only from above that you discover its layout actually traces the shape of a landmine.

The installation is therefore designed to work on two levels. Those who walk through it physically experience uncertainty. Those who discover it through aerial images immediately understand what it represents. The stunt itself then becomes the campaign visual, allowing the experience to travel far beyond the square where it was installed.

Inside the maze, the dead ends are never empty. On the ground, replica mines and messages reveal what it really means to live in a contaminated area: munitions that remain active long after a conflict has ended, but also stories of people forced to change their routes, avoid certain areas or live with a danger left behind by a war they may not even have experienced themselves.

As visitors move through the maze, the mine stops being an abstract object. It becomes a path that can no longer be taken, a field that can no longer be cultivated, a place people can no longer return to. The experience does not simply show the danger posed by mines; it makes visible everything they prevent people from doing.

Every path through the maze eventually leads back to the same message: “For you it was a maze. For them it’s reality.” Only then does the exit become accessible. After experiencing the uncertainty, discovering the facts and encountering the realities of those who live in contaminated areas, visitors learn about FSD’s work — and, above all, discover that they can take action.

Because mine clearance is not simply about removing explosives from the ground. It means enabling a community to return home, a child to get to school, a field to be cultivated and an entire area to come back to life. #ClearTheWay then becomes more than a campaign message: it is an invitation to join the movement and help make these journeys possible again.

Perhaps the best sign that an area is safe is no longer having to think about it.
Clear the way. Join the movement.