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Artistic representations of possible future worlds


Overview #

In their proposals in the Climate CoLab, we invite interested members to include artistic representations of the possible future that might emerge if their proposal were to be implemented.

These could include videos, pictures, or stories.

Examples could be:

Example: Living Climate Change Video Challenge #

In 2009-10, the design firm IDEO sponsored the Living Climate Change Video Challenge, a contest that invited people to submit videos envisioning "how climate change will impact our lives over the next 20 to 30 years."

The contest winners, plus a series of videos created by IDEO staff, are available on the Living Climate Change blog.

The blog also includes commentary on each video and community discussion.

There is also a Living Climate Change channel on Vimeo that includes all the videos.

Example: UNFCCC Changing Lives Photo and Video Contests #

Since 2008, the UNFCCC has sponsored an annual photo and video contest in which artists are invited to submit still and moving images that depict projects enabled by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM program that allows projects in the developing world to receive emission reduction credits that can be bought and sold on carbon markets.

Example: Museum of Modern Art's Rising Currents #

"Climate change is not simply a problem to be confronted, but an opportunity to be seized," says Barry Bergdoll, the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Making cities more livable today could help them bounce back from the dangerous consequences of climate change in the future, he explains. It is this vision that is brought vividly to life in "Rising Currents: Projects for New York's Waterfront," an exhibition at MoMA.
\Description of Rising Currents from the web site of the Rockefeller Foundation, which supported the exhibition.

Example: I'm With the Bears #

I'm With the Bears is a volume of short stories by leading writers from North America and the United Kingdom, including Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, T. C. Boyle, Helen Simpson, Toby Litt, Paolo Bacigalupi and Kim Stanley Robinson. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, will provide an introduction.

The volume will be published by the Versus in October 2011. For more, see Allison Flood, Top writers tackle climate change, Guardian, 10 August 2011.

Technical tips #

We encourage members to upload visual art to other hosting sites and then embed them or add links to the Description tab of your proposal.

Sites such as YouTube or Vimeo host videos. Sites like Flickr and Picassa host still images.