Artistic Experiments Exploring Climate Data

Heartbeat of the Earth is a series of online artworks exploring rising sea levels, melting glaciers, acidifying oceans, and more.

By Google Arts & Culture

'Timelines' by Fabian Oefner

Artists + Scientists + Data = ?

Climate change affects everyone. However, climate data can be very complex. It's also difficult to access, unless you're a scientist. 
Artists, working with scientists, can transform the data into visual references that people can understand.

Heartbeat of the Earth hero image

Heartbeat of the Earth

​Google Arts & Culture Lab and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have asked artists to interpret scientific evidence to create accessible visualisations.
Explore these interactive artworks to learn more about climate related issues.

Seeing the Invisible by Cristina Tarquini

In collaboration with the World Health Organization, artist Cristina Tarquini, has created interactive sculptures using the data on 4 invisible environmental issues:
- Microplastic Intake
- Air Pollution
- Noise Pollution
- Melting Permafrost

launch the experiment

Pollinator Pathmaker preparatory painting (2020-09) by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Pollinator Pathmaker By Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Created by the artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, this one-of-a-kind inter-species artwork is commissioned by the Eden Project, Cornwall, UK.


If Pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?

Learn more and launch the experiment.

Calling in Our Corals

Professor Steve Simpson, Mary Shodipo and Dave Erasmus need your help.
Travel to the Philippines and 9 other locations around the world and become a citizen scientist, as together, we create  the ocean’s next vital study on marine protection.

launch the experiment

Insidious Rising, melted glacier

2 'Insidious Rising' by Hyphen Labs

What would happen if the planet got 2 degrees warmer?
The design duo Hyphen-Labs explore the cascade effects of climate warming on humans, symbolised in the melting of a glacier.

Learn more and launch the experiment.

Heartbeat of the Earth: Medusae by Cristina Tarquini

3 'Medusae' by Cristina Tarquini

Through 'Medusae', learn how acidifying waters, rising temperatures, a lack of oxygen and other factors affect jellyfish differently to other marine species.

Learn more and launch the experiment.

Plastic Air - microplastics (2021) by Giorgia Lupi

4 'Plastic Air' by Giorgia Lupi

What happens to plastic when we dispose of it?
Data artist, Giorgia Lupi, created a visualisation, giving us a lens through which to discover and explore the hidden swirls of microplastics in our rain, snow and the very air we breathe.

Learn more and launch the experiment

Heartbeat of the Earth: Climate Change Impact Filter by Sey Min

5 'Climate Change Impact Filter' by Sey Min

Artist Sey Min created an interactive machine learning experiment to discover what species we might lose and what will remain as temperatures on the planet rise.

Learn more and launch the experiment

The Lagoon - Coastal City (2021) by Felicity Hammond

6 'The Lagoon' by Felicity Hammond

What do rising sea levels mean for your beach holidays? 
See a fictional coastal city disappear under water in this video, created using photographs of locations around the world, that are most at threat of flooding due to climate change.

Learn more and launch the experiment

'Coastline Paradox' by Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho

7 'Coastline Paradox' By Timo Aho & Pekka Niittyvirta

Artists Timo Aho and Pekka Niittyvirta created a map and Street View experiment that visualises actual and predicted global sea levels caused by climate change. 
Is your town safe?

Learn more and launch the experiment.

'Diving into an Acidifying Ocean' by Cristina Tarquini

8 'Diving into an Acidifying Ocean' by Cristina Tarquini

Rising temperatures in the sea make the water more acidic. Dive into the (virtual) ocean and explore the impact of rising temperatures on marine life, and to the whole planet, through an interactive data visualisation. 

Learn more and launch the experiment.

'Timelines' by Fabian Oefner

9 'Timelines' by Fabian Oefner

As temperatures rise, glaciers melt. Experimental photographer Fabien Oefner has created an interactive artwork to demonstrate the dramatic retreat of 2 glaciers in Switzerland over the last 140 years. 

Learn more and launch the experiment.

'What We Eat' by Laurie Frick

10 'What We Eat' by Laurie Frick

Did you know that what you eat affects the environment? 
Data artist Laurie Frick is exploring the CO2 footprint of different foods and diets in the US, France, and the UK. 
How does your diet compare to car emissions?

Learn more and launch the experiment.

NASA Blue Marble 2007 East (2017-12-08)NASA

Continue to Explore

Heartbeat of the Earth is an ongoing project. Discover these and other experiments making climate change data easier to understand.


What can you do today, to help slow down the climate crisis and save planet Earth?

Credits: Story

Explore all of the Heartbeat of the Earth experiments here.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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Related theme
Culture Meets Climate
Bringing artists, scientists, and museums together to reimagine climate data
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