The Museum of Climate Futures

The Museum of Climate Futures is a series of experimental participatory workshops that uses objects from a museum set in the future, to create speculative scenarios designed to explore the drivers and dynamics of climate change. The workshop process also allows for the spotting of patterns that reflect and illuminate current understandings and concerns about climate change.

#1 : ArtCOP,The Stove. Dumfries. Dec 2015 LINK
#2 : Green Tease, Creative Carbon Scotland. City Art Gallery. Edinburgh, May 2016 LINK
#3 : Realising Potentials : Art based Sustainability Science Symposium. Barcelona, Nov 2016 LINK
#4 : Flood Risk Management Conference, Glasgow Feb 2018 LINK
#5: Adaptation Scotland, Aberdeen, April 2017 LINK
#6: ASCUS Lab’s Greenhouse Gas Exchange Event. Edinburgh, Nov 2017 LINK

Examples of Museums:

#1 : The Stove, Dumfries. 10th Dec 2015
Working in pairs, participants chose an object from the archives of the Museum of Climate Futures and picked three cards that gave them the context of date, place and driver (technology, culture, politics, religion, economy, society, environment) Within a 30 minute time limit, they collaborated on developing speculative scenarios that narrated the providence of each object.

Click each image to reveal the scenario

Part of ArtCOP, the workshop was one of a series of events exploring the affects of climate change as part of the wider cultural programme coinciding with the Paris Climate Talks (the COP21). The workshop was followed by A Question of Scale, an evening of discussion and conversation on:How artists engage with large scale issues and concepts like environment and climate change
How artists influence new ways of looking at the future? How can we create our own futures?
How artists create new local contexts for global and large-scale issues
Do we need a new way to talk about climate change?
Can localised, personal actions affect change on larger levels/across larger communities?

#2 : Green Tease, Creative Carbon Scotland. City Art Gallery Edinburgh. 23 May 2016

Working in groups of three, participants chose an object from the archives of the Museum of Climate Futures and picked three cards that gave them the context of date, place and driver (technology, culture, politics, religion, economy, society, environment) Within a 40 minute time limit, they collaborated on developing speculative scenarios that narrated the providence of each object.
Link to the event Here

Click each image to reveal the scenario: