Imagining Futures
As we urgently move away from the systems that have brought us into the climate and ecological crisis, artists, scientists, policymakers, activists and designers are developing new ways of shaping our world. Centring the creativity and lived experiences of vulnerable communities, advocating for the rights of natural world, and shifting our cultures from short term consumption to long term perspectives is crucial to developing holistic and intersectional solutions to the climate and ecological crisis.
This toolkit section highlights some of the ways that artists are collaborating across sectors and silos to dream, innovate, reclaim alternative knowledges and cultivate regenerative systems across culture, legal frameworks, economics, material design, land use and public space.
– Image credit: Portrait of performance artist Zadie Xa at We Make Tomorrow
Creative case studies
Centric Lab
A research lab that uses neuroscience and geospatial data to understand how environmental injustice impacts our health.
INTERPRT
INTERPRT investigates environmental crimes using geospatial analysis, design and architectural methodologies. Their work actively supports criminalizing Ecocide as an international crime.
Global Tapestry of Alternatives
GTA is an initiative seeking to create solidarity networks and strategic alliances amongst communities creating alternative ways of being on local, regional and global levels.
JB Highlights
Additional resources
Squirrel Nation
Profile
Installations and live events in public spaces which create memorable experiences and concepts that consider co-existence as an ethic.
The Institute for Queer Ecology
Network
A platform showcasing queer, feminist, decolonial and multi-species art practice.
Jackson Cooperative
Profile
Jackson Cooperative aim to advance the development of economic democracy in Jackson, Mississippi by building a solidarity economy anchored by a network of cooperatives and other types of worker-owned and democratically self-managed enterprises.
Land In Our Names
Profile
LION is a Black-led, grassroots collective committed to reparative justice in Britain by securing land for BPOC (Black people and People of Colour). They use events, video, photography and podcasts to build an ecosystem of BPOC stewards committed to the land.
Union of Justice
Profile
A European, independent, people of colour (POC) led organisation dedicated to racial justice and climate justice, founded by former MEP Magid Magid.
The International Rights of Nature Tribunal
Profile
Created by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, it aims to create a forum for people from all around the world to speak on behalf of nature, to protest the destruction of the Earth and to make recommendations about Earth’s protection and restoration.
The Right To Energy Coalition
Network
Uniting trade unions, anti-poverty groups, social housing providers, environmental campaigners, health organisations, NGOs and energy cooperatives to end energy poverty across Europe.
Karachi Urban Lab
Research
An interdisciplinary research and advocacy platform exploring land displacement, climate change and public infrastructure in Pakistan.
Refuge: Art Meets Emergency
Profile
Since 2016 Refuge has brought together people who might not normally collaborate in a crisis – local residents, artists, scientists, Elders and experts from the world of emergency services to explore new ways of shaping responses to climate impacts.
adrienne maree brown
Profile
A writer who explores Pleasure Activism, radical acts of love, science fiction and transformative justice. Adrienne is also a writer-in-residence at the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute and co-host of the How to Survive the End of the World and Octavia’s Parables podcasts.
Neighbourhood Doughnut
Profile
An experimental project from Civic Square and DEAL, using 'Doughnut economics' principles to support an equitable transition to more regenerative neighbourhoods.
Future scenarios
Profile
A multi-platform project by Lena Dobrowolska & Teo Ormond-Skeaping documenting climate change vulnerability, and imagining solutions and future scenarios.
MAIA
Profile
An artist-led social justice organisation using culture and Black thought as catalysts to develop regenerative, community-centred cultural spaces.