Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Rigorous science and hard data are indisputable necessities in the struggle to combat climate change. However, they have failed overall to motivate lay audiences to demand substantive change. With this in mind, the authors developed an interdisciplinary climate design course as a collaboration between students in Lehman College’s Art and Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Science (EEGS) departments. Students in this course researched, articulated, and designed their own art exhibition to convey the most pressing effects of climate change in The Bronx…and beyond. The conclusion of the faculty and students – and the conceptual grounding of the resultant installation design – was that our social and administrative systems require a massive rethink about the value of design pedagogy in interrogating the climate change conversation; how data tends to reduce engagement; and the power of storytelling in art and design. Identifying relevant facts, data, tangible social concerns, and looming personal concerns aligned students on subjects as varied as environmental ethics; interpreting geographic informational science data sets; the thriving non-binary fungal bloom; a veritable socio-economic model that lives amongst and beneath us every day; the confluence of aesthetics, conservationism, and feminism; the natural and synthetic sonic multi-verse we inhabit that influences our perceptions; the design tools to communicate the onslaught of data, disaster and wonder; and how the artistic vision becomes a means for clarity and purpose. In this process, the authors formed a sort of ‘toolkit’ for engaging students post-pandemic, giving students agency and a pathway for personal expression.