Climate 20XX: Imagining Multispecies Futures
Climate 20XX is a group exhibition by 8 students from the MA programme in Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art. All works were produced as part of a brief developed by Orleans House Gallery titled Futures of Personhood, delivered in September 2022.
The students introduce their exhibition below:
We are one part of a vast ecosystem, formed by other species, forests, mountains, rivers, winds and oceans. These are some of the non-human entities that we depend on to exist and thrive, and they depend on us too. Only when we address these interdependencies will we achieve a more harmonious relationship with them, capable of sustaining life on Earth. This requires a multi-species mindset. Our culture of exploitation and extraction of natural ecosystems is not sustainable and is no longer benefiting anyone. We are currently witnessing its devastating effects at a global scale – climate destruction, ravaged biodiversity, pollution and so forth.
Through films and physical artefacts, Climate 20XX addresses such questions by imagining what kind of new relationships we might develop with non-human entities in the next 77 years, exploring at the same time issues related to the climate crisis. Each work is a portal to a possible future scenario within that time frame, inviting us to question current issues related to our waste culture, and to imagine what kind of new relationships and rituals we might develop with the natural world.
The pieces exhibited are works in progress, thought experiments and sketches of ideas that don’t intend to put forward solutions, but rather to make us think about our actions towards non-human entities today. We must develop a new way of existing that considers us as part of our ecosystems.
Climate 20XX features as part of Richmond Arts Service’s 10-year Cultural Reforesting programme. An interdisciplinary, artist-led programme that responds to the ecological crises of our time. Each project investigates the question – how can we renew our relationship with nature?
Participating artists:
Hongyi Luo
Shuyuan Chen
Xinyi Li
