CARBON ARTS | creative solutions for a changing climate find us on: 
Monometers, by Michael Pinsky
Michael Pinsky transformed Belgium’s four largest wind turbines into an ecological monitor or meter displaying the energy and water consumption and noise and waste generation of a night-time festival. These were indicated by the movement of rings of light up and down the turbines communicating the ecological pulse of the festival to the surrounding region.
Nuage Vert, or Green Cloud, is a public art installation by artists He He performed in Helsinki in 2008 in collaboration with Helsinki Energy. By projecting green light onto the smoke emitted from a city power station the changing output of the station is visible. This provided a means for communicating the results of efforts to reduce energy use in the district, whereby campaigns to turn off lights, and so forth, had visible effect. Helsinki Energy initiated a release of real-time energy information as a result. A clever and simple way to provide a feedback loop to the public, Nuage Vert looks is seeking funds to do the same in Paris.
Highwaterline is a public art project of artist, Eve Mosher, who in 2007 walked 70 miles of coastline within New York City leaving behind her a line of blue chalk marking the level of predicted sea rise of 10 ft. As Mosher walked the line, she interacted with curious residents and was able to engage with them on the subject of climate change.
The Tree Hugger Project installs touching scenes like these in various locations around the world, including in Copenhagen and Poznan at the time of the annual UN Conference on Climate Change, to draw attention to, and help us rediscover a tender connection with nature. The project encourages people to install these works in their local environment.
This stunning digital, sculptural work by artists Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was commissioned by Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia for the 2010 Light in Winter festival. Five projectors animated the world’s largest spherical balloon, depicting live mathematic equations representing real activity on the sun, using new advances in astronomy. As well as raising questions around global warming, the work created a poetic space, evoking mythologies of the sun prevalent in many cultures.
The Climate Clock Initiative seeks to generate a work of public art in San Jose that draws on the technical and artistic prowess of silicon valley to engage the population in understanding and acting on climate change. Started as a competition, a number of short-listed teams have been working since 2008 to develop the winning concept, which will be revealed in 2012 at the 01SJ Biennale. The Initiative also seeks to expand the concept to other cities worldwide, to combine cutting edge technology for data measurement and display with arts’ power to communicate and engage.
Propositions for an Uncertain Future: five responses through art to a world without water, is a public art project curated by Australian artist, Lyndal Jones, as a creative response to the climate change challenge. In this once-upon-at-time wall of water, a public fountain, switched off by the City of Melbourne as a response to the drought, which has aflicted the country for many years, five artists have displayed works, including Lyndal herself.
A project of the RSA and Canon Europe, the WEEE man is made up of all the electronic waste that one typical UK person generates in a lifetime, from fridges to stereos to stove-tops. Created to illustrate and communicate the purposes of the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Products Directive, the WEEE man first appeared along the Thames in London in 2006, and was supported by Canon Europe. A fabulous visualisation feat, the WEEE man is an excellent example of the power of art to communicate the impacts of individual consumer choices, and generate support for legislation to address the need to recycle.
The Fun Theory is an initiative of Volkswagen in Sweden – a competition of ideas – that is based on the theory that you can get people to change their behaviour by making it fun to do the right thing. Turning the stairs next to an escalator in a public metro into a giant musical piano keyboard created a shift of 66% of users to the stairs instead of the elevator. A rubbish bin in a park that makes a funny noise when waste is deposited encouraged people to clean up the park for the pure joy of throwing away waste. Such demonstrations show the power of creativity to make a measurable difference. Watch the amusing videos on their website.
Amphibious architecture was a project in collaboration with artist Natalie Jeremijenko that consisted of a floating installation of water quality sensors, motion sensors and LED lights in New York City waterways. Lights changed colour depending on water quality, such as dissolved oxygen, and flashed when fish passed by. As a way to engage New York citizens in the health of their river, the work was an innovative and educational public art work.