Climate Change

Performers make video statements about climate change

Culture Futures, , ,

This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

The Climate Message Video Festival is an online initiative that brings together musicians from all over the world to increase awareness of climate change. They don’t meet in real life, they all meet on Youtube. Festival organiser and jazz musician Warren Senders from USA aims to have uploaded an even 1,000 videos by Earth Day on 22 April 2014.

climate-message_warren-send

“Whether we reach that number or not, the video festival will keep on keepin’ on. The goal is to have sounds and voices from all over the world saying in as many different languages and styles as possible that the time to get serious about climate change is now.”

“As a musician, as a human being, and as a citizen of Planet Earth, I can say that we all need to be committed to the fight against global climate change, so that our songs can go on to generations in the future.”Warren Senders

If you’re a performer in any idiom, you can join the Climate Message Video Festival – an online initiative bringing together musicians from all over the world to increase awareness of climate change: www.theclimatemessage.com

To make a Climate Message video, here’s how: 
Use a smartphone or webcam (or a friend’s) and record about a minute’s worth of your music and talking. Then email it to theclimatemessage@gmail.com, along with your name, contact information, and any details you want included.

Warren Senders will then upload it to the YouTube channel, and feature it on The Climate Message website. Eventually all the videos will be linked to an interactive world map.

Climate Message from Warren Senders, teacher and performer of Indian classical music, Medford, Massachusetts, USA

Climate Message from Banning Eyre, radio broadcaster, writer, musician, Connecticut, USA

Climate Message from Jarrett Cherner – piano – Brooklyn, New York, USA

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Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

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Book about curatorial methodologies on climate change

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This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

he book ‘Portable Nation: Disappearance as Work in Progress – Approaches to Ecological Romanticism’ offers a range of geo-political positions and research-curatorial methodologies on climate change and their approaches to ecological romanticism.

port-nat_curators

Featuring essays on the geopolitics of climate change and the idea of urgency, the book offers a comprehensive snapshot of the aesthetic, political and poetic dimensions of the situation in the island nation intertwined with a global vision of the climate emergency around the world.

The book is based on the work of curators Khaled Ramadan, Alfredo Cramerotti and Aida Eltorie who were commissioned by the Maldives Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture to be in charge of the exhibition at the Pavilion of Maldives for the 55th International Art Exhibition of Venize Biennale in 2013.

The book expands on several of the themes which emerged conceptually and artistically in the Maldives Pavilion exhibition and six-month-long public programme, and elaborates them in a philosophical, historical, scientific and poetic register within the specific materiality of a book, with its capacity to extend the time, space and context of the ideas beyond the Venice Biennale. It aims to engage a readership further-reaching than the project’s immediate public.

The publication is structured in three main sections: the artists and their projects presented in the Maldives Pavilion, the parallel projects over the six-month period, and the critical text section which includes interviews and thematic analysis.

port-nat_page-in-book

‘Portable Nation: Disappearance as Work in Progress – Approaches to Ecological Romanticism’

book cover

ABOUT THE BOOK
Editors: Dorian Batycka, Camilla Boemio, Alfredo Cramerotti and Aida Eltoire
Publisher: Maretti Editore
Year: 2014
Pages: 176
Language: English

MORE INFORMATION
» More information about the book at Maretti Editore:  www.marettieditore.com

EXHIBITORS
Mohamed Ali, Sama Alshaibi, Ursula Biemann, Stefano Cagol, Wael Darwesh, Moomin Fouad, Thierry Geoffrey (aka Colonel), Khaled Hafez, Heidrun Holzfeind & Christoph Draeger, Hanna Husberg, Laura McLean & Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza, Achilleas Kentonis & Maria Papacaharalambous, Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky), Gregory Niemeyer, Khaled Ramadan, Oliver Ressler, Klaus Schafler, Patrizio Travagli, Wooloo.

PERFORMERS AND EVENTS
Mark Dahl, Ehsan Fardjadniya, Shani Leiderman, Celeste Pimm, Oliver Ressler, Marian Tubbs.

SUPPORT
The project was supported by the Danish Arts Council, Mookai Suites, mooinc, The Allam Foundation, bm: ukk – Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, The Arts and Culture, Kultur Steiermark-Department Culture, Europe, Foreign Relations, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, 6 Contemporary Arts, Material Fonds, HIVOS: People United, Ayyam Projects, The School of Art and College of Fine Art – University of Arizona, Art Sawa Gallery Dubai, Olympus Cinema Male, Imad Agency Photo Archive, The Maldives National Museum, Meyer Sound and CITRIS, Contemporary Practices Art Journal, Transart Institute New York, Horcynus Orca Foundation Messina, www.doculogia.com.

WEB LINKS
» Maldives Pavilion:
www.maldivespavilion.com

» Chamber of Public Secrets:
www.chamberarchive.org

VIDEOS
» www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHE4DJmJnGs

» www.doculogia.com/01doculogia.html

» www.vimeo.com/channels/essay/page:8

» www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgDEcJEnupw

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Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

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The Scarcity Project

Artists and Climate Change, , , ,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

To celebrate the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring when the earth’s 24 hours are split evenly between light and dark, we shared a wonderful find from Brazilian-Italian-currently-based-in-London Paulo Goldstein, a self-described “designer/maker/artist” according to his website. Incredibly talented and original, we would like to add.

So, brew yourself your favorite fair-trade beverage, sit back and let this six-minute video brighten your day.  It is a “joyful celebration of repaired objects, promoting a different narrative to scarcity by exploring and expanding the potential left behind by the anomalies of our consumer culture.”

Our favorite quote from the video:  ”Scarcity is a springboard to creativity.”

We are sure that you’ll never look at discarded rubbish in the same way again!

Thanks to Grist’s Holly Richmond for the lead.  Follow Joan on Twitter @CleanNergyPhoto or her renewable energy photo blog.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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New on Ashden Directory’s News Page

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This post comes to you from Ashden Directory


for Burning Ice #6, copyright Sarah Vanagt

Environmental Arts Festival Scotland is calling for projects connected to land, energy, the coast, rural living, Dark Skies, climate change, and more.

Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeis calling for ideas on the theme of Tracing the Tacit, for retreats exploring the underlying ideas, influences and concepts informing artists’ practices.

The work of art in critical times works out on energy, economy and environment at a symposium in Falmouth.

Wasteland Conversations in Nottinghamtake on utopia, community and ecology.

Also in Nottingham, and in London, the vacuum cleaner talks: ‘I Went Mental and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt’ .

And in Brussels, Kaaitheater looks at animals looking back for their Burning Ice #6 Festival.

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“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK” (2020 Network)

ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.

The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.

The Directory has been live since 2000.

Go to The Ashden Directory

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The 2nd heliocentric revolution

Artists and Climate Change, ,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

Melbourne, Australia:  The irreverent and provocative creators of Juice Rap News, Giordano Nanni and Hugo Farrant, have produced an outrageously audacious video spoof à la SNL called The Energy Crisis which, IMHO, could be the climate change communication solution we have all been waiting for.  This dynamic down-under duo has even included a cameo by Nicolaus Copernicus, who gently reminds us that we are “still living in the dark ages” by ignoring the most obvious heliocentric fact:  that the sun, at the center of our universe, should also be at the center of our energy strategies.  By the end of the video, we learn that the 2nd heliocentric energy revolution has already begun… solar energy will dominate our climate change future.

Copernicus heliocentric solar energy renewable climate change

Thanks to Peter Sinclair for the lead.  Follow Joan on Twitter @CleanNergyPhoto  

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Strange Weather

Artists and Climate Change, ,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

Science Gallery Strange Weather

Dublin’s amazing Science Gallery was accepting proposals for its summer 2014 exhibition STRANGE WEATHER. The deadline for submitting proposals expired at 12 midnight on Valentines Day, 14 February 2014.  According to the submission guidelines, the curators — CoClimate and Science Gallery’s  Michael John Gorman — will bring together meteorologists, artists, climate scientists and designers in order to inform, intrigue, provoke dialogue and engage audiences directly, making the complex and emotional topic of extreme weather and climate change more relevant to everyday experiences.  This is a recurring topic here on the Artists and Climate Change site.  STRANGE WEATHER promises to challenge audiences with novel visions of a global culture adapting to extreme weather.  Good luck!

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Feeling Climate Change

Artists and Climate Change,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

Rare Tornado
RARE TORNADO | 2013
oil + charcoal on canvas | 40″ x 36″ x 1.5″
FIELD NOTES: Today there are more frequent RARE TORNADO incidents in areas of the world that are not normally hit. Tornado experts are studying whether global climate change is the cause because climate change increases levels of energy, as well as increases clashes between cold air masses and warm humid air masses. Chances are that the El Nino in 2014 will lead to a record breaking year on many weather fronts.

Danielle Nelisse is an abstract artist noted for painting large scale contemporary abstract art in oil on canvas. She also happens to be a private investigator and an immigration attorney, an unusual combination of skills and interests that gives her a unique perspective on the human condition. Her Urban Ecology | Climate Change Series was recently shown at the Encinitas Civic Center Gallery in Encinitas, California. A follow-up to her Transformative Geopolitics Series, which “was inspired by discussions in California and elsewhere about how to resolve international border issues, multiple identities, inequality, and the ways that exclusion of foreign nationals can dominate contemporary geopolitics,”

Danielle’s Climate Change Series expresses “her inner reflections about the complexities in dealing with urbanization, climate change, and natural disasters.”  Bold-colored, dynamic and complex, her work makes it impossible to intellectualize an issue we so easily (and sometimes, readily) like distance ourselves from. Instead, it invites us to deeply and courageously feel our feelings, and perhaps recognize that there is beauty even in sadness.

In addition to being an abstract painter, you are a private investigator and an immigration attorney. How do these different roles inform your work?

As a private investigator I am asked to obtain information from people in creative – but legal – ways.  As an attorney I must also gather facts about a case, apply the law, and then edit the facts down to the most relevant.  In other words, in my legal work there is a tension between facts, rules, and creativity.

As an artist, there is also a tension between structure and creativity. I express my emotions through color harmony, composition and line. Both my legal work and art work involve the same skills: creative discovery; strategic editing; thoughtful rule application; all while allowing passion and creativity.

 What was the inspiration behind your Urban Ecology | Climate Change series?

I have always felt that I have a say in my destiny and that even though I am only one person, I can make a change. My past is filled with work where I was able to champion the rights of others. The issue of climate change looms large and I am getting nervous because it does not yet seem to be considered an important global issue.

Recently I moved to a new studio in Bonita, California, which is located down by the border of Mexico in a beautiful desert area – and year round my studio is atypically warm. My clients live all over the world and provide me with firsthand accounts about their struggles with uncommon weather events, which are reinforced by media reports. Recently one of my clients was separated from her husband due to the 2013 typhoon in the Philippines. Another was waiting for weeks in the summer of 2013 for a U.S. Consulate to issue his work visa during an abnormal intense heat wave in India that resulted in continued temperatures of 110 F. I may not always be directly impacted by every weather event, but I am indirectly impacted as I experience intense emotions after observing how climate change impacts people worldwide.

Urban Oasis
URBAN OASIS | 2013
oil on canvas | 36″ x 36″ x 1.5″
FIELD NOTES: Desert cities typically record a cooler temperature than the surrounding area. Studies suggest it may be due to the URBAN OASIS effect where irrigated plants in the city help it stay cooler than the dry desert region surrounding it. Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability is studying five sub-tropical desert city region – Las Vegas, USA; Beer Sheva, Israel; Jodhpur, India; Kharga, Egypt; and Hotan/Hetian, China to measure the amount of climate change caused by urban desert cities.

What is your process? What happens between the original idea and the finished painting?

I initially set parameters for myself, such as the size of the canvas and the palette. For this series I decided upon oil paint on large scale canvas. For the most part I am not looking to paint the literal equivalent of a figure or a landscape, but in a nonrepresentational way to gradually balance formal elements such as color, light and space with psychological and conceptual issues. I alternate between gestural action painting strokes done with a large brush or piece of charcoal, and careful thick oil paint applied with a palette knife. There are many stages of editing and layering until I feel satisfied that it is balanced in composition, color and movement.

What do you think is the single most important thing artists can do to address the problem of climate change?

I think that uncertainty about climate change is causing everyone increased anxiety as our concerns accumulate over time. The situation appears to be so overwhelming and effective solutions so complex that it is easier to either avoid thinking of how to deal with it or deny climate change is happening at all. It will take massive cooperation on a global level to make changes and that sounds daunting, if not impossible. Increased discussions about our emotions and how to adapt to the new climate may reduce worry, anxiety and stress and lead to creative solutions. If artists can inspire even a single conversation about emotions caused by climate change, I believe they have made a difference.

What gives you hope?

It is very encouraging to learn about artists of all types who are expressing themselves about climate change. For a long time it felt like I was the only person concerned about it and of course that was not true. I think, just like all unpleasant issues, the more we discuss the reality of climate change and how to adapt to it, the more people will not feel so helpless or sad about the issue. I believe that heightened awareness and a sense that we are all in this together will lead people to take responsibility and stop denying there is an issue as a psychological defense mechanism. Through my art I hope to inspire creative ideas about how to cope by inducing curiosity, concern, or even skepticism – anything to keep the conversation about climate change going.

Water Vapor
WATER VAPOR | 2013
oil on canvas | 36″ x 48″ x 1.5″
FIELD NOTES: A recent study finds that WATER VAPOR is distributed at different heights in the atmosphere, causing fewer clouds to form as the climate warms. Researchers from Australia’s ARC Centre for Climate Systems Science found that 2013 levels of WATER VAPOR resulted in less clouds, which made the atmosphere far more sensitive to heat-trapping gases such as CO2.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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USA: Art exhibition about climate change, coal and superfunds

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This post comes to you from Culture|Futures

In the new exhibition ‘Altered State’, which runs at the Holter Museum in Helena, Montana, until 13 April 2014, the popular American painter Monte Dolack takes a look at controversial topics such as climate change, coal, superfund sites, and the effects of extractive companies moving into Montana’s wild spaces.

returnOfLakeMissoula_590

Monte Dolack is a well-known and popular artist in Montana, and with this new exhibition, he still tries to speak to a wider audience, he told Darby Minow Smith from Grist magazine, though he is touching on a much more controversial topic than anything else he has produced over the 40 years he has been working as a visual artist.

“Some artists might fill a room with coal. It might be really cool but a lot of people might miss the message. You have to be pretty well informed about art to understand that vocabulary,” he told Minow Smith. The following is an excerpt of Darby Minow Smith’s review of the exhibition in Montana:

“Unlike the broad whimsy found in some of Dolack’s past work, most of the pieces in Altered State are simple and subtle. An antelope watches a coal train zip along the plains. In ‘Oil and Water’, a family of geese swims through the reflection of a refinery.

In a less subtle move, Dolack incorporated the fruits of Montana’s extractive industries into the collection. He used copper as a canvas; the frames are rubbed with coal. One frame of bright, jagged coal pieces nearly overwhelms the painting inside: a meandering Smith River. ‘Marriage of Convenience’ is a sculpture of a man and a woman made out of coal — Dolack’s commentary on our dependance on the dirty fuel.”

Darby Minow Smith in Grist, 3 Feb 2014

MonteDolack_SuspensionOfBel

Dolack plans to continue to touch on coal and climate change in future works, but he wants to incorporate more animals and explore an international angle.

“This work was about my own history, family, and culture,” he said. “But [regional and global issues] touch each other.” The coal on those trains is heading from Montana to China, after all.

» Monte Dolack’s home page and online gallery: www.dolack.com

Grist – 3 February 2014:
The full Monte: Beloved Montana artist makes bold statement on climate and coal
By Darby Minow Smith

The photo on top of this article is a poster reproduced from an acrylic painting portraying downtown Missoula, Montana as if Glacial Lake Missoula had returned in the present day. It can be purchased at Monte Dolack Gallery: www.dolack.com

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Culture|Futures is an international collaboration of organizations and individuals who are concerned with shaping and delivering a proactive cultural agenda to support the necessary transition towards an Ecological Age by 2050.

The Cultural sector that we refer to is an interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, inter-genre collaboration, which encompasses policy-making, intercultural dialogue/cultural relations, creative cities/cultural planning, creative industries and research and development. It is those decision-makers and practitioners who can reach people in a direct way, through diverse messages and mediums.

Affecting the thinking and behaviour of people and communities is about the dissemination of stories which will profoundly impact cultural values, beliefs and thereby actions. The stories can open people’s eyes to a way of thinking that has not been considered before, challenge a preconceived notion of the past, or a vision of the future that had not been envisioned as possible. As a sector which is viewed as imbued with creativity and cultural values, rather than purely financial motivations, the cultural sector’s stories maintain the trust of people and society.

Go toThis post comes to you from Culture|Futures

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The World We Made

Artists and Climate Change,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

The World We Made

Sir Jonathon Porritt – legendary British environmentalist, campaigner, commentator, writer, broadcaster, former Green Party co-chair, sustainability advisor to corporations and individuals including the Prince of Wales, and co-founder of Forum for the Future – is currently promoting his latest book, The World We Made.

Officially classified as non-fiction by its publisher, The World We Made is a most unusual book — part speculative fiction, part road map to an exciting future — that is, according to its optimistic author, clearly within our reach if only humanity can find the courage and vision to “get a move on it without further delay.”

Set in the year 2050, The World We Made is narrated by a fictional British history teacher, Alex McKay, who recounts to his students the key historical events, technological breakthroughs and lifestyle revolutions that helped transform a world which was stuck in polarized environmental debate and climate change inertia in the early part of the 21st century into a healthier, more prosperous world that is green, fair, connected, collaborative and genuinely sustainable for all nine billion of its inhabitants by the year 2050.

According to Jonathon’s blog, “this is the biggest thing I’m working on at the moment.  We simply have to change the ‘mood music’ in terms of the way people feel about sustainability.”

The World We Made is packed with futuristic photographs, info-graphics and hand-drawn sketches that help readers visualize what it would “feel like” living in a world in which 90% of our energy comes from clean sources; where IT devices compute at the speed of human thought; where nanotechnology and 3D printing transforms manufacturing; and where personal genomics allows everyone to lead longer and healthier lives.

futuristic bridge Korea

futuristic boat

“The business community has a lot to feel excited about in terms of the opportunities between now and 2050. It is going to be just the most exciting roller coaster ride you can imagine as we move away from our dependence on fossil fuel and very wasteful economies, to renewable energy, efficiency, closed-loop production systems, new materials, nanotechnology, new manufacturing systems, more efficient transportation systems, one global currency… It’s a brave new world to say the least.”

These ideas are not science fiction, according to Jonathon. All of the projections made in the book are based on the best possible forecasts and scenarios currently available.  “What I did was to take the forecast for 2050 and backcast it – if that’s the forecast for 2050 then how do we actually get there?  It was refreshing to do it that way… if you start from (today) and you look at what’s going to happen in 2015 it’s usually so depressingly small that you think, oh my god, this is never going to get moving fast enough.”

There are, inevitably, some serious shocks to the system that humanity will encounter between now and 2050 – accelerating impacts of climate change, threats to food and water security, for example.  But Jonathan believes these shocks will actually “help jolt politicians out of their current inertia.”

By taking the technical concepts of sustainable development and climate change out of the theoretical – which clearly does not resonate with most audiences – and making them engaging, tangible and human, Jonathon has found his secret weapon – the character Alex McKay – to help make climate change more “personal”.  He tells an engaging – and surprisingly believable – tale of how humanity finally woke up from its early 21st century slumber to save itself – just in the nick of time – from the brink of climate collapse.

The World We Made is essential reading for anyone thirsty for some positive news as an antidote to the relentless onslaught of negative stories and images with which we are confronted daily.  Through a humble fictional “everyman”, Sir Jonathon seduces us with a tantalizingly realistic sense of optimism and hope for the future, inspired by many of the same cleantech revolutionary ideas that are already being developed today.  If we would just allow ourselves the pleasure of focusing beyond the stalemate of today’s international climate change negotiations, we might be able to see — even believe — that humanity may already be on the path to unprecedented transformation as described by Alex McKay.  The secret is to stay focused on the positive, to keep our eyes on the prize.  The World We Made may just be what the doctor ordered. 

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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Invisible Teamwork

Artists and Climate Change,

This post comes from Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

Bethany Bartran
Bethany Bartran

Bethany Bartran is an Oklahoma-born painter currently living in The Netherlands by way of Houston, San Diego, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Boston and Athens, Greece. She describes her work as “(r)evolving around global, cultural, scientific & political ~ communications, atmospheres, and pollutions… and not necessarily in that order.” Additionally, as an artist married to a climate scientist for more than a decade, the imagery and issues surrounding this topic have  slowly worked their way into her work (see her website and Flickr page). I am especially fascinated with how she appropriates scientific imagery we have all become familiar with, and invites us to look at it in a different way.

How did you become interested in addressing climate change in your work?

When I was younger, I didn’t have any particular focus in my work. I was just showing what was around me, my idiosyncratic take on my surroundings. For example, I’d paint my dreams, or the way the light hit the wall in a corner of my room, and blow it out of recognition, take it totally out of its context, I guess to see what remained recognizable, what remained true. But naturally, as you get older you become more conscientious about what’s happening in the world, and you become wiser. When you travel or move around a bit, like I have, sometimes the things that are the furthest away take on a sense of immediacy. Your ‘surroundings’ start including things that are further and further away, or invisible even. Climate change is something that affects you no matter where you live. I really do feel like a citizen of the world, and this is our generations’ single biggest “elephant in the room”… I suppose I like the idea that I can bring this concept into people’s hearts and minds, on to their living room walls, where they will sit back with their feet up and think about things, allow themselves to be open to acknowledging our problems, and possibly even solutions. That’s the way inspiration works, you float the idea and someone catches it and runs with it. Its sort of an invisible teamwork that we do in society. We all have a role to play.

Several of your paintings are inspired by scientific imagery. In making this imagery your own, what do you hope to communicate?

I want to be accurate, in a way. I know that must sound absurd when you’re looking at my work with a huge spill here and a splash there.. there’s nothing ‘accurate’ about it. In fact, when I’m “in the moment” it’s all feeling and no reservations… just guts. But I’m conveying a force of nature that otherwise wouldn’t be identifiable, or relatable. Science is a very handy way to look at things, everything is extremely defined and logical. There’s no second-guessing about what it ‘means’ and no room for confusion or emotional interpretation. I guess that’s my job, to bridge that gap.

 What are people’s reaction to your work? Do they immediately recognize that it is dealing with climate change issues?

Well, some do, some don’t. Everyone seems to have a different opinion! So far, it’s far from settled. I’ve gotten several comments that people disagree with their partner or spouse on which ones are their favorites. That means they’re talking about it and thinking about it, so I’d say, it’s a good reaction. We could use a similar discussion on a global scale, so I’d like to reach a lot more people. Naturally, art is always more powerful when seen in person, but I’d love to hear this group’s reactions.

track and intensity of all tropical storms
track and intensity of all tropical storms

What do you think is the single most important thing artists can do to address the problem of climate change?

Artists are very sensitive to things that many people wouldn’t account for or have time to consider in their daily lives. This sensitivity allows artists collectively to hold a mirror to society. To give something form, shape or voice is a reaction to a public need to examine our wishes and hopes, as well as our laments. I dare say, we are in changing times, not only with regard to our planet’s ability to sustain us, but we are also shaken politically, financially, technologically and morally to the core. Sometimes you just ‘know’ that something needs to be made, I often “see” a piece in my minds eye and then can’t let it go until its made, even if it takes years. Then, after it leaves the studio, art takes on a life of its own. Some pieces go very far, and see lots of attention and care, and others languish unseen and dusty in the back of a closet. The important thing for artists to do is to keep creating work that engages people, and hope that it fills a need in the society, wherever it finds itself.

What gives you hope?

That the ‘old guard’ will change. The era of industrial capitalists is on its way out, and it will usher in a new, respectful way of living and engaging with each other and our planet. I do sincerely hope it happens in my lifetime, for my kids’ sake.

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Artists and Climate Change is a blog by playwright Chantal Bilodeau that tracks artistic responses from all disciplines to the problem of climate change. It is both a study about what is being done, and a resource for anyone interested in the subject. Art has the power to reframe the conversation about our environmental crisis so it is inclusive, constructive, and conducive to action. Art can, and should, shape our values and behavior so we are better equipped to face the formidable challenge in front of us.

Go to Chantal Bilodeau’s Artists and Climate Change Blog

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