Reimagining Museums for Climate Action
How can museums become catalysts for climate action? An exhibition at Glasgow Science Centre for COP26 aims to inspire radical climate action in and with museums.
By United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Reimagining Museums for Climate Action
In May 2020, Reimagining Museums for Climate Action was launched as a design and ideas competition. Over 250 proposals were submitted from 48 countries around the world. Eight of these ideas can now be seen in an exhibition at Glasgow Science Centre for COP26.
Museum of Open Windows
What if museums became centres for community-led climate research and action?
Museum of Open Windows Field Guide (2021) by Stuart WallaceUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Museum of Open Windows Concept. Museum of Open Windows is accompanied by an audio Field Guide that you can use to explore your own surroundings, wherever you are.
Existances
What if museums were small places that supported communities in addressing local climate challenges and actions?
Museums traditionally bring together different objects, histories and narratives in a single location.
Existances Museums (2021) by Existances TeamUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
The Existances project imagines a network of small, temporary structures spreading knowledge across a specific region – in this case the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
The models in the Existances Museum exhibit in Glasgow Science Centre look across to the main COP26 venue. They feature detailed embroideries representing traditional knowledge and cosmologies.
Natural Future Museums
What if Indigenous lands were thought of as a kind of museum for climate action?
The relationship between museums and Indigenous groups is often problematic, as museums have deprived them of their cultural heritage. What if we thought of Indigenous territories themselves as a new kind of museum, where forests and peoples’ ways of life can be sustained?
Natural Future Museums (2021) by Takumã Kuikiro and Thiago JesusUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Drawing from Takumã Kuikiro’s intimate archive of over ten years of filmmaking, this exhibit includes a short film inviting you to meet the Kuikuro, a community of 650 Indigenous people living in harmony with the Amazon in the Xingu Indigenous Territory.
What if museum buildings themselves contributed to real climate action, through their material fabric? (2020) by Isabella Ong and Tan Wen JunUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
What if museum buildings themselves contributed to real climate action, through their material fabric?
Weathering With Us (2020) by Isabella Ong and Tan Wen JunUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Weathering With Us is a speculative project by Isabella Ong and Tan Wen Jun. It imagines a new kind of museum building that marks its environment in a therapeutic way, and simultaneously absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Recovery and restoration (2021) by Jonathan GardnerUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Weathering With Us exhibit consists of a mechanical arm that draws climate data in olivine sand, a material that absorbs carbon dioxide as it weathers. The rotating arm produces a mandala of climate data in the sand, as a symbol of hope, recovery and restoration.
How can museums support the move to climate-friendly technology and lifestyles? (2020) by Andrew Black DesignUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Dundee Museum of Transport
How can museums support the move to climate-friendly technology and lifestyles?
Dundee Museum of Transport at Glasgow Science Centre (2021) by Jonathan GardnerUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
What if museums supported people in the transformation to a climate-friendly future? Dundee Museum of Transport is supporting Dundee’s shift to electric cars through education and awareness activities. It is also developing a carbon-neutral museum to ‘walk the talk’.
Wee Scamp (2021) by Jonathan GardnerUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
The ‘Wee Scamp’, from Dundee Museum of Transport, was one of the first electric cars.
Green futures (2021) by Stuart WallaceUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Visitors to the exhibition at Glasgow Science Centre can also explore the emissions from different types of car.
What if museums and society were forced to confront their role in climate change? (2020) by DESIGN EARTHUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Elephant in the Room
What if museums and society were forced to confront their role in climate change?
Elephant in the Room (2021) by DESIGN EARTHUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Elephant in the Room by DESIGN EARTH is an animated film that imagines what would happen if a taxidermy elephant at the American Museum of Natural History came to life and stampeded through the streets of New York to demand climate action. The film is narrated by Donna Haraway
Story:Web - the concept (2021) by Simon BowenUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Story:Web
How can people curate their own climate information, to support climate action?
How can people curate their own climate information, to support climate action? (2020) by Open LabUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Museum collections can be a powerful source of information and inspiration, but they are limited if they can only be experienced directly, in museums themselves. What happens if we think of museum collections as sources of big data instead?
Story:Web by davep-ukUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
The Story:Web idea was developed by a museum, a sound artist and a team of researchers. By using Story:Web, people, museums and even AI systems can explore, create and share stories as co-authors and co-curators.
What if people gathered their own collections and information to support dialogue and climate action? (2020) by pppooolllUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
A Series of Collective, Non-Statistical Evidence
What if people gathered their own collections and information to support dialogue and climate action?
A Series of Collective, Non-Statistical Evidence (2021) by Jonathan GardnerUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Climate policies and data can seem a long way from the lives of most people. Jakarta-based design studio pppooolll imagine a new kind of museum, where communities generate and gather climate information to inspire collective solidarity and support climate justice.
Collecting climate action (2021) by Stuart WallaceUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
The exhibit at Glasgow Science Centre includes objects similar to those collected by pppooolll in Jakarta that can also be found in Glasgow, highlighting global connections in climate impacts and action.
Reimagining Museums for Climate Action (2021) by Takumã Kuikiro and Thiago JesusUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
Conclusion
Reimagining Museums for Climate Action aims to show how museums can support the Paris Agreement and provide better services for society.
The website is a rich source of inspiration for museums and those interested in the cultural dimensions of climate action.
Website: www.museumsforclimateaction.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/climatemuseums Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/museumsforclimateaction/
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