Innovative artists are using artificial intelligence and other emerging media to visualise the live effects of climate change. As a result the reality of global warming is impossible to ignore. The climate crisis requires new perspectives in thinking - empowering us to act and create collective global impact. We at Rock Badger believe that art is the future of engaging us with these issues. So what issues are artists visualising in their art? We will explore how artists’ are tackling climate change by creating diverse ways to engage with the environment.
1. Gardens of the future
Pollinators' contribution to the health and continuation of the ecosystem is paramount. A lack of pollinators has a massive ecological risk - with serious implications for biodiversity, food production and gardens. As a result of pollution and other effects of climate change - pollinators are disappearing at a concerning and consequential rate.
Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg raises awareness and responds to this issue - addressing our relationships with nature in her work Pollinator Pathmaker. Pollinator Pathmaker asks us to view the world in a new way - from the perspective of plants and pollinators. Pollinators see differently to us - “they sense differently. Bees, for example, can’t see the colour red, but they can see ultraviolet…so I started to think, what would a garden look like if we weren't making it in a tasteful way?”
‘If pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?’
Pollinator Pathmaker is a living artwork created for the taste of pollinators. Collaborating with horticulturalists and scientists, Daisy created an algorithm - that draws on a database of plants selecting and arranges them according to the various foraging habits of bees, butterflies, moths and wasps. When designing the algorithm she made an effort to be as ecologically empathetic as possible - translating empathy into code. The work’s innovation demonstrates that our gardens - and technology can be designed for the benefit of other creatures.
Daisy invites us to plant our own piece of art for pollinators - creating the largest climate positive artwork. The platform empowers us to harness the power of its algorithm and design our own pollinator friendly garden. We can generate our own DIY Pollinator Pathmaker by providing details of our garden's location, size, soil, and light conditions.
Pollinator Pathmaker is “the largest climate-positive piece of art”. The artwork serves as an example of the crucial role that innovative exploration at the intersection of art, ecology, and technology can play in tackling key ecological challenges.
Dr. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg's artwork utilises the power of art and technology by using an algorithm for ecological good. A totally innovative (and beautiful) solution to drive positive environmental change.
2. Making the rate of deforestation tangible
Amazon Deforestation is accelerating at an alarming speed. We are nearing tipping point - with as much as 17% of the the forest already lost - scientists believe that at 20% - 25% the forest will no longer be able to generate rain - triggering mass forest dieback and carbon release.
However, we are not able to see the sheer loss of the rainforest and the extent of climate catastrophe. As a result these figures can feel distant and the devastation invisible.
Thjis Biersteker presents a solution to this issue - to visualise the live rate of Amazon deforestation - allowing us to see the loss of Amazon rainforest - right before our eyes.
Thjis is an artist who operates at the intersection of sustainability, data and art. In his work, he turns the effects of deforestation into something tangible and immersive. In collaboration with UNESCO, turns deforestation data into something you can feel. ‘Wither’ is built using an adaptive set of deforestation data. The digital leaves turn transparent when current is applied, turning every leaf visible or invisible. Controlled by the data every flickering of a leaf marks the loss of 250m2 of rainforest. The artwork is adapted to the current data coming in by the different deforestation watch groups.
“The artwork turns the deforestation data into something you can feel.”
The work excellently demonstrates the experimental and sensory ways of addressing climate change by optimising art and data to inspire impact. We believe in the responsibility to look to art and technology to drive impact and new innovative thought.
3. Witnessing the Amazon's Destruction
The environmental devastation that is happening in the heart of the Amazon is unfolding in many different ways. Deforestation and ecocide - are both too vast to comprehend and too minute to perceive, making the extent of the tragedy very hard to grasp and see.
Richard Mosse uses immersive media to overcome these challenges. Mosse's work, Broken Spectre confronts the Amazon's environmental devastation in an immersive 74-minute film - captured over three years documenting the different fonts of destruction. Mosse and his team succeed in visualising the scale and urgency of the crisis - showing the importance of art, science and technology to act together to depict complex and distant issues. - showing the importance of art, science and technology to act together to depict complex and distant issues. Three separate media were utilised for this work in order to capture all aspects of the devastation.
The techniques developed:
Broken Spectre inspires us to shift the ways of thinking about how we use technologies, to activate new ways of translating complex messaging to inspire greater global good.
4. Eliminating glacier disappearance
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are causing temperatures to increase - triggering glaciers and sea ice to rapidly melt. Already this is having devastating consequences across the entire globe. With rising sea levels triggering flooding, intense weather conditions, destroying fisheries and resulting in many wildlife losing their homes. Despite the extent of the catastrophe - we are often not able to see the glaciers disappearing.
Refik Anadol addresses this crisis in his work ‘Glacier Dreams’, in partnership with Julius Bear. Glacier Dreams aims to eliminate the danger of glaciers disappearing across the globe by raising awareness through immersive art.
Glacier Dreams is a long term art and research project at the intersection of machine learning and environmental studies. Anadol uses algorithms to simulate the melting of glaciers processing more than 100 million images from various archives, combining them with images he took in Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica.
The convergence of art, data and generative AI illuminates the positive role that art gives to new technologies - to address environmental issues in new ways.
5. Using machine learning to give a voice to endangered species
It is estimated that around 1 million animals and plants are threatened with extinction, more than ever before in human history. One of the species facing extinction are flying foxes, with the main threats coming from habitat loss and human hunting. Flying foxes have a huge ecological role, they disperse seeds and pollinate flowering plants which are crucial to keeping forests healthy. Conservation efforts are vital in protecting them. Now more than ever, we need innovative responses to address their extinction.
Alinta Krauth, an artist and wildlife rescuer working with flying foxes, leverages the power of digital art and AI to help protect endangered animals. Her artwork ‘The (M)otherhood of Meep’ (The Bat Translator), translates flying fox vocalisations into English. It aims to evoke an interspecies bridge between endangered animals at the centre of human/wildlife conflicts.
The work employs machine learning to listen to flying-fox vocalisations, collaborating with bat carers and vocalisation experts, she then interprets into poetic and animated narratives in real-time. Anyone with a microphone on their phone can now decode flying fox vocalisations.
6. Using virtual worlds to drive real world action
Global sea levels are rapidly rising as a result of global warming. The effect this is having on coastal communities, weather and wildlife is devastating. This will only get worse if we do not mitigate the climate crisis and shift towards a more sustainable future. It is particularly paramount that the next generation engage with and witness the rising sea levels.
Marina Abramović’s Rising (2018) addresses this. Rising, transports us, via virtual reality, to witness the rising sea levels. Viewers are invited to interact with a virtual Marina Abramović and find themselves immersed amidst melting polar ice caps. Abramović then urges viewers to reflect on their impact and act to support the environment, which then lowers the water level in the tank, saving her from drowning.
Her work questions “will immersive reality increase empathy for the present and the future victims of climate change and how will this experience affect players’ consciousness and energy? In real life, when someone rescues another person or offers aid of any kind, there is a transfer of energy. The recipient of the help and the provider of aid are both affected by the experience. Will the same happen in virtual reality?”
We believe in order to engage the next generation of policymakers - immersive media is the solution. Empathy evoked in the virtual world can drive real-world action.
7. Giving a voice to trees
The link between plants and different climatic processes is not immediately apparent. Climate variables are affecting plants in multiple and hidden ways. For example, Scots Pine Trees are experiencing high mortality rates, whereas Downy Oaks are withstanding the same climatic conditions.
We can understand the different effects the climate is having on plants through the sound they emit. All plants emit sounds (that are beyond human perception), relating to their anatomical structure and local climate conditions. Hearing these sounds would enable us to understand how individual plants respond to climate conditions - enabling us to crucially help preserve species.
How can processes that are beyond our senses be made directly perceptible, opening a new window on nature?
Marcus Maedler transforms the invisible effects that climate change is having on plants. His work ‘trees: Pinus sylvestris‘ makes audible the ways that a tree is influenced by its local conditions - by recording the sound and generating the data into an immersive artwork.
This allows us to identify and understand plants’ responses to climatic processes. Helping us to determine the physiological thresholds of plants in terms of increasing temperature and consequently drought stress.
8. Protecting the coral reefs
Our Corals initiative by Google Arts & Culture is an amazing example of how AI, data and art connect us to the planet and drive real sustainable impact.
The problem: when marine biologists listen to the sound of the coral reef they are able to hear its biodiversity. They collect hundreds of hours of audio recordings from Marine Protected Areas around the world to monitor the success of their restoration effort. However, they lack the time to listen to all of the data.
The solution: in Our Corals we are able to help marine biologists listen to the sound of the reefs (in just three minutes). All we have to do is listen and identify fish - which helps marine biologists attempt to bring life back into coral reefs.
The result: we form a listening collective - and this data from our listening trains computers to listen to fish sounds which automatically support cutting edge biodiversity and ocean research.
As a result of the Calling in Our Corals initiative, was able to collect and analyse over 400 hours of coral reef soundscapes.That’s a lot of data — so Google Arts & Culture, Google Research and Google Deep Mind developed SurfPerch, a new AI model, to help listen to the reefs, monitor their health and track the progress of their regeneration.
9. Remembering extinct animals
In 2018 the headlines announced the death of Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros - a subspecies lost to the imagined life-enhancing properties of the horn.
In ‘The Substitute’ Dr Alexandra Daisy Ginsburg uses AI to bring back to life the extinct white rhino- making it impossible to for what we have lost to be eradicated - and we see the consequences of our actions - connecting with the reality of the loss - and we are forced to confront our actions.
Collaborating with AI lab DeepMind she creates a rhino - which performs as an artificial agent - an autonomous entity that learns from its environment. The virtual rhino - powered by AI to replicate its actual movement - is a powerful visual and reminder of what has been lost.
The work excellently demonstrates the experimental and sensory ways of addressing climate change and catastrophe by optimizing art and AI to inspire impact.
