EOS1.2
Exploring the Art-Science Interface

EOS1.2

EDI
Exploring the Art-Science Interface
Convener: Kelly Stanford | Co-conveners: Louise Arnal, Daniel Parsons, Michael Lazar, Konstantin Novoselov
Presentations
| Wed, 25 May, 13:20–14:50 (CEST)
 
Room 1.14

Presentations: Wed, 25 May | Room 1.14

Chairpersons: Kelly Stanford, Louise Arnal, Michael Lazar
13:20–13:22
13:22–13:28
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EGU22-1267
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Virtual presentation
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Caroline Clason, Sally Rangecroft, Claudia Grados Bueno, Rosa Maria Dextre, Evelyn Hoyos, Kelly Hurtado Quispe, and Diane Samuels

Glacier Gifts is a project designed to bring together scientific researchers in the UK and Peru with author and creative, Diane Samuels, to activate public exploration of current environmental research on the impacts of climate change and glacier retreat in Peru. Through a series of virtual creative writing workshops facilitated by Diane, we have collated and edited a collection of pieces, written by our team of researchers and by Diane, for public dissemination, with an aim of stimulating engagement of diverse audiences beyond the scientific community. During the workshops we practised free-writing and word-collage, inspired by key words, phrases, stories, and images of the environment and culture of the Peruvian Andes, producing raw material which was subsequently crafted to combine individual and collective voices in our book. The collection is also illustrated with personal photographs by team members, and original artwork by Caroline Clason. Glacier Gifts draws upon both lived experience in Peru and scientific engagement with the challenges of glacier change and water security in the Andes, linking to the SIGMA: Peru and Nuestro Rio research projects. Glacier Gifts emotionally, imaginatively, and factually, shares the personal, collective, local, and global impacts of environmental change in this climate-sensitive region of the mountain cryosphere, providing an opportunity for scientific narrative to reach a wider, non-academic audience enveloped within a creative experience.

How to cite: Clason, C., Rangecroft, S., Grados Bueno, C., Dextre, R. M., Hoyos, E., Hurtado Quispe, K., and Samuels, D.: Glacier Gifts: adventures in creative writing in the Peruvian Andes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1267, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1267, 2022.

13:28–13:34
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EGU22-3292
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On-site presentation
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Grace E. Shephard, Fabio Crameri, and Eivind O. Straume

Everyone, be it scientists, students, teachers, media outlets, or the public, regularly turn to a “google” image search when exploring a scientific concept. Yet, the recovered images are often suboptimal in terms of [1] scientific quality and accuracy, and/or [2] the aesthetics and artistic value. One such common example from the solid Earth sciences, is the (false) impression that the Earth’s mantle is molten, red, and that mantle plume upwellings exclusively coincide with mid-oceanic ridges. Another common issue might be that the labels or content are not sufficient for the users purpose (e.g. axes not indicated, features not labelled). Furthermore, scientists often spend a lot of time and energy in making images (whether for manuscripts, presentations or outreach) and are willing to share their image for anyone to re-use or modify. However, a central, convenient means to share them is lacking and, crucially, them to be readily found by others. To help address this, we have created the online s-Ink collection (s-Ink.org; Crameri et al., in submission). It is a free, community-driven exchange platform for high quality, science-related graphical products. We document several key graphical quality measures to ensure that submissions maximise accessibility (e.g. via scales or colour choices), broaden applicability (e.g. through modifiable vector-based options), and facilitate creativity (e.g. via graphic design principles). Products can include conceptual illustrations, templates, data visualizations, animations, icons, and more. Contributions will be shared with the entire community under a clearly stated license, so that individual efforts will be acknowledged. The content can be downloadable either directly from the s-Ink website or via a link to an external site or repository (for example, in the case of large or pre-existing content). With this abstract we will showcase the website, discuss data and science visualization, encourage feedback and invite contributions all EGU22 attendees.

How to cite: Shephard, G. E., Crameri, F., and Straume, E. O.: Introducing s-Ink.org – a community portal for sharing quality science graphics, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3292, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3292, 2022.

13:34–13:40
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EGU22-4070
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ECS
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On-site presentation
Lucy Jackson, Fabian Wadsworth, and Joanne Mitchell

The material behaviours that underpin artistic work with glass have striking similarities to those of volcanic glasses, silicate melts, and magmas. This similarity presents a compelling opportunity for collaboration between glass artists and volcanologists to better understand silicate melts, and thereby to elucidate volcanic processes.

 

Using silicate melts as an experimental material is advantageous, because it allows us to investigate coupled thermorheological effects that are not well captured by the more widely used low-temperature magma analogue materials such as syrups and oils. Here we present work focussed on adapting and refining the artistic, kiln-based process of bubble entrapment and the precision manipulation of gas phases in glass. These techniques have previously been used to create glass art pieces involving complex bespoke figures formed from gas trapped within layers of glass. We expand the use of this technique to investigate bubble rise dynamics in soda-lime-silicate glass under non-isothermal conditions; varying temperature to slow or accelerate the bubble rise.

We present a scaled mathematical model that provides an excellent description of the experimental data even in case of complex changing temperature environments similar to the long, slow annealing stages of glass art production. Scaling analysis is used to show how our experiments using artistic soda-lime-silica glass can be scaled to volcanic environments. This allows a better understanding of bubble motion in magmas under variable temperature conditions, such as those in shallow basaltic lava lakes, flows, or the uppermost parts of magma plumbing systems.

 

This art-science collaboration used artistic skills and knowledge to validated our model, and tested the limits of the artistic technique: the use of kiln-based heating programs and the glass used by artists. Overall, the advantages of using kiln-based art techniques and skills for volcanology is clear. But we also find that there is a deep mutuality to glass art collaborations, such that the art techniques can be refined via the scientific model development. Ultimately, when working to better understand the behaviours of a complex material such as glass, the approaches of the artist and the scientist are very similar, and our project shows that the presumed disciplinary divide may be less divisive than expected.

How to cite: Jackson, L., Wadsworth, F., and Mitchell, J.: Kilns of the Earth: Glass art collaborations to further understanding in volcanology, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4070, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4070, 2022.

13:40–13:46
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EGU22-4255
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Virtual presentation
Michael Lazar, Daniel Sher, Maayan Tsadka, and Naama Charit Yaari

The seas and oceans cover 70% of the planet and are critical resources for humanity. Responsibly harnessing the seas and oceans while conserving them for future generations requires a deep understanding of the oceans and, potentially, necessitates major changes in how we (as humanity) interact with them. How do we form a bond between people and the sea? What is the role of maritime education and outreach? Do we need to forge an emotional bond (“a love for the sea”), and what are the roles of scientists, artists and educators in forging this bond? How can we engage different communities, creatively overcoming cultural, technological and financial barriers? These are some of the questions that were posed at the 8th Haifa Conference on Mediterranean Sea Research of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa, Israel (July 14-15th, 2021) dedicated to the combination of marine research, science education and art. While art is often used as a means for making research accessible to the public, the aim here was to create a dialog and perhaps a joint outcome between the disciplines. To achieve this goal, five groups of three individuals that included a scientist, educator and artist who deal with similar topics in their daily practice, but from very different perspectives, were formed. These joint topics (time, communication, sound, vision and education) formed the core topical sessions of the conference. The conversations between the individuals were filmed, edited and shown during the conference and each group was invited to present their findings during the first day of the conference. A poster session was set up to allow creative, artistic ideas to be submitted by students who were asked to think about how to present their research outside the box. The conference was broadcast live across the globe on social media simultaneously in English, Hebrew and Arabic (many of the talks are available at https://www.seahaifa2021.com/).  The second day of the conference was devoted entirely to community activities that took place across the country and were open to the general public. These ranged from lectures at the Maritime museum to a workshop on how to make bread from seaweed. The methodology developed for this conference, its results and some thoughts for future activities will be presented here.

How to cite: Lazar, M., Sher, D., Tsadka, M., and Charit Yaari, N.: SEA – Science Education and Art – lessons learned from an interdisciplinary conference, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4255, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4255, 2022.

13:46–13:56
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EGU22-717
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solicited
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Highlight
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Presentation form not yet defined
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Ekaterina Smirnova

In November 2014 the Rosetta mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) sent a spacecraft to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The data published from the mission inspired me as an artist to create a set of artwork about 67P, including paintings, sculptures and musical collaborations. During this seven-year-long project, I collaborated with scientists from ESA and NASA. Acting as an interpreter from science to non-scientists I implement scientific data into my artwork. Allowing my work to be interactive via Augmented Reality (AR) I invite my viewers to study about the Rosetta mission via art. 

For the return of the comet in 2021 I have created two new paintings. This time I am starting a conversation about the origins of life on Earth, suggesting that comets perhaps played a big role. Colonies of bacteria grown in my art lab have become a part of my paintings.

During the EGU conference in 2022, I would like to display a series of large watermedia paintings. All of the paintings were created with special water that I generated to be close in composition to the water on the comet. 

Work sizes: 70”x52”; 90”x258” (largest piece, if the space allows).

A few of the works could be experienced with AR, instruction to which will be provided to viewers. AR is inspired by the spectroscopic data of an instrument onboard the spacecraft Rosetta. An image with a sound will be visible for viewers via their smart devices. 

If space allows, a music video could be displayed during the exhibition. This video was a collaboration project between myself, a clarinetist from Wales, a composer from Japan and a film editor from New York. This piece is inspired by the sonification of the magnetometry readings of the comet. 

A poster and a public talk can also be provided.

How to cite: Smirnova, E.: Exploring Comet 67P through art and science, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-717, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-717, 2022.

13:56–14:02
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EGU22-5038
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ECS
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Highlight
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Virtual presentation
Daniel Bryant, Clare Nattress, and Jacqui Hamilton

Airborne particulate species less than 2.5 micrometers in diameters known as PM2.5 are considered to be the most deadly form of air pollution, contributing to millions of premature deaths per year globally. However, due to the small size of these damaging airborne particulate species drawing public attention to the issue is challenging. This study aims to increase the public awareness of PM2.5 through an art-science collaboration. Conceptual artist Nattress uses her bicycle as a performative tool to pedal on low and high infrastructure routes around the city of York, UK. The roads around the circumference of the University of York and York St John University are known highly polluted areas that are often heavily congested. The bicycle was equipped with a MiniVol TAS sampler and a Plume Labs Flow 2 sensor gathering data over the course of three months. The filters collected were extracted and analysed by atmospheric scientist Bryant through an established method used for PM2.5 filter samples, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify known compounds within the samples. The process of collection and extraction were documented and the filters also photographed and investigated under a microscope.

This arts-science collaboration seeks to uncover if there are any striking differences in air pollution levels on regular bus routes to both campuses as well as alternative rural routes. This study proposes that the data and information gathered will be incorporated onto a digital map of York to reveal collection locations and routes as well as pollution concentrations and compounds present within filter samples. Combining this data with photos and video snapshots of each performance ride will improve the public's ability to see for themselves pollution within their city. This interdisciplinary collaboration would also increase our understanding of environmental hazards facing cyclists and the benefits of a healthier environment through improved infrastructure. This study will help monitor and creatively disseminate exactly what cyclists and the public are exposed to and will help to inform effective solutions.

Despite ongoing evidence that suggests art enhances our understanding of science and data, there is still much to analyse regarding impact and personal realisation for action. This study provides initial evidence that the public engages with creative and visual outcomes that aim to make the invisible, visible. 

How to cite: Bryant, D., Nattress, C., and Hamilton, J.: The art-science interface: making York's air pollution visible, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5038, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5038, 2022.

14:02–14:08
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EGU22-6156
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Highlight
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On-site presentation
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Helene Hoffmann and Thomas Hoffmann

Snow crystals are among the most delicate and aesthetically beautiful things in nature. Looking at their geometrically unique features has inspired photographers and scientists for more than two centuries. However, being made of frozen water, their beauty is usually ephemeral and can usually only be captured in pictures. In this project, we present a system and a procedure to permanently preserve the highly detailed imprints of snow and ice crystals using special kinds of glue and a custom built cooling device. The resolution of the imprints is even high enough to reveal the inner structure of the sometimes only millimeter sized features.  We collected more than 100 snow crystals from Antarctica and the Arctic so far. It should be emphasized that this includes samples from both polar winters, captured during a scientific overwintering stay on Neumayer Station III (Antarctica) and on the MOSAiC cruise (Arctic). This makes the collection truly unique. Additionally we also found a way to preserve imprints of larger glacier ice and ice core samples. This enables to highlight the ancient air bubbles and fine glacier ice microstructure (e.g. sub-millimeter crystal grain boundaries) without the need to keep them frozen. The current focus of this ice core sample preparation is an ice core from Skytrain Ice Rise in West Antarctica, reaching back to ice ages of about 150 000 years before present. The samples we prepare from this core have mainly been used in laser-ablation ion coupled plasma spectrometry for chemical impurity analysis.  We incorporate both the snow crystals and the ice core samples into art objects. The objects not only highlight the delicate beauty of the ice, but also refer to the fragility and delicate balance of the environments they originate from. This is supported by the integration of other materials that have been in use in the polar regions, for example discarded parts of scientific and technical equipment. We consider the artistic presentation as a pathway not only to communicate the fascination of our scientific work and results, but also to bring people closer to the sometimes uncomfortable truths of climate change. We therefore aim to use the artistic presentation of the snow and ice samples to communicate the dramatic impacts of climate change, especially in the polar regions, to a non-scientific audience. 

How to cite: Hoffmann, H. and Hoffmann, T.: The Cryosity project – Artistical preservation of snow crystals and glacier ice samples from Antarctica and the Arctic, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6156, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6156, 2022.

14:08–14:14
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EGU22-9759
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On-site presentation
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Benjamin Renard and Chloé Le Bescond

Visualizing hydroclimatic data through maps, curves, diagrams or any other graphical means is an integral part of most scientific analyses. While less frequently attempted, it is also possible to listen to the data through the process of sonification; and rather than just making sounds, why not trying to make music out of them?

Overall, the process of transforming a dataset into music involves two main steps. The first one is to define a mapping between data values and sound properties (typically, the volume or the pitch of notes). This is very similar to the approach used to visualize data (think about using the size or the color of a symbol to represent data). The second step is to arrange the raw result of this first sonification step in order to make it 'sound good' and -hopefully- transform it from sound to music. 

This poster will present a few musical pieces created from hydroclimatic data we use as part of our scientific activity, such as:

  • the most basic time series used in catchment hydrology (https://vimeo.com/481648928)
  • the impact of El Nino on precipitation (https://vimeo.com/440621263)
  • an exploration of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica (https://vimeo.com/653705727)
  • an ubiquitous statistical tool (https://vimeo.com/532773848)
  • and more (https://globxblog.inrae.fr/)

Data sonification can be looked at from many interesting angles. From a scientific perspective, it is another way to extract information from data. From a musical perspective, it is a device to create the backbone of musical pieces. From an education and communication perspective, it is an engaging starting point to present scientific concepts or results. In addition, the process of sonifying data is a great way to learn new skills in many topics, including signal processing, musical theory or computer science, just to name a few.

How to cite: Renard, B. and Le Bescond, C.: The Music of Water, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9759, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9759, 2022.

14:14–14:20
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EGU22-10135
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On-site presentation
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Nerea Ferrando Jorge, Vicky Shannon, Joanna Clark, Liz Shaw, Elena Vanguelova, and James Morison

Often scientists think of creating visuals like graphs, tables, and charts to better convey their research or make it more appealing to a broader public. However, some data or scientific concepts are complex and difficult to grasp. Instead, art is a universal language. This has led to a tremendous growth in data visualisation using art in the last decade.

At the University of Reading, a team of scientists are collaborating with environmental scientist and visual artist, Nerea Ferrando, to enliven the important story of deadwood for forest functioning. Deadwood refers to trees, or parts of a tree, that are dying or have died. Research in this field is increasingly showing that deadwood stabilises forests, sustains productivity, stores carbon, and provides food and a home for thousands of species, including invertebrates, fungi, as well as birds and mammals. Yet, despite its enormous ecological significance, deadwood remains one of the most threatened habitats in managed forests. Its amount, quality, and diversity is usually heavily reduced by forestry as a common strategy to control pests or make sites accessible.

The artist is creating a series of works to bring to light this less visible part of the forest and help communicate specific aspects of the research findings, such as its unrecognized role in the carbon cycle, the impact of deadwood on biodiversity, or exposing contradictory views on best management practices.

Ultimately, the science-artwork seeks to promote consciousness and awareness of the value of deadwood and the benefits it provides. Raising awareness is essential because, to date, deadwood continues to receive little attention and the adoption of management strategies that create or maintain a variety of deadwood are needed to protect forest health.

How to cite: Ferrando Jorge, N., Shannon, V., Clark, J., Shaw, L., Vanguelova, E., and Morison, J.: Using art to enliven research on deadwood, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10135, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10135, 2022.

14:20–14:26
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EGU22-10638
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ECS
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Presentation form not yet defined
Stephanie Zeller

“Language [is] absolutely teeming with metaphors that are often invisible to us,” writes Melanie Mitchell, in her book, Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans. “But our understanding of essentially all abstract concepts comes about via metaphors based on core physical knowledge.” As significant work in both geography and the arts demonstrate, our engagement with the physical, material environment shapes our understanding of and our relationship to the world, ourselves, and both human and nonhuman others. Our sense of place is deeply informed by our embodied experiences and our visual surrounds, which are socially constructed and culturally replicated. These concepts are continuously revealed by the pervasiveness of and dependence upon physical metaphor to scaffold language, art, and thought. Rapidly advancing computational technology, however, has irrigated a culture that is profoundly unmoored from these physical and material relationships. While the internet has successfully democratized information, bringing to fruition the knowledge utopia many envisioned at its genesis, and supercomputing has revolutionized the processing and visualizing of immense datasets at incredible speeds, modern computing has also drastically widened the gap between the lay public and the means of knowledge production. The research process, from start to finish, has become so specialized, opaque, reshaped, and repackaged for broad audiences that the average person can no longer connect with its resulting data—can no longer imagine the ice cores, weather balloons, permafrost samples, sea level trackers, or recording devices awaiting the calls of birds long-extinct that lay behind the inhuman line graphs and bar charts spelling our demise. This outsourcing, digitizing, abstracting, and hyper-personal target marketing of information has crippled a system of knowledge-production and communication built on relational trust and a recognition of personal, experience-based truths within larger, institutional messaging. Further, prior work shows that individual belief systems emerge from complex socio-cultural milieus, of which one dominant component is the beliefs of an individual’s immediate community—those they trust as a result of long-standing relationships. Knowledge of and beliefs about the world are fundamentally grounded in physical, personal experience, in place, and in community relationships. In an era of hyper-polarization, digital abstraction, and pressing climate challenges, how might ethical communication practices expand and evolve to more effectively engage with diverse communities already facing the multifarious repercussions of climate change? How can we leverage the physical, the material, and the communal to reestablish the connection between environmental data—and its subsequent insights—with its original source? I propose that a reconceptualization of scientific visualization, based in the fine arts, has the potential to bridge this gap. Here, I explore the potentials of integrating visualization with traditional collectivist art practices—drawing on literature from the arts and from geography, participatory mapping, and communications—with the directed aim of improving conceptual understanding and producing actionable insights in key vulnerable communities for climate resilience.

How to cite: Zeller, S.: Collective Art Practice for Communications-Directed Climate Visualization, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10638, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10638, 2022.

14:26–14:32
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EGU22-11481
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ECS
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Highlight
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Presentation form not yet defined
Elizabeth Follett, Penelope Turnbull, Lorna Davis, Catherine Wilson, and Jo Cable

Farmers manage 88% of Wales’ land area, maintaining and enhancing the natural environment for aesthetic enjoyment and wellbeing of the wider population. Their provision of ecosystem services ranges from habitat creation and management to water storage to reduce flood impacts and carbon capture. The benefits of sustainable farming in the UK have gained particular relevance as climate change is expected to increase summer storm intensity and temperature, with increased sediment runoff and reduced river water quality. To improve understanding of Welsh farmers’ perspectives on sustainable farming actions and develop targeted information delivery, we discussed decision-making processes towards sustainable farming actions and suggestions for the future of Welsh farming with farmers in three catchments (Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, and Anglesey).  Outputs presenting information on sustainable farming actions were revised following participant feedback, with revisions including watercolour drawings of Welsh farmland with sustainable farming actions, which demonstrated implementation in the Welsh landscape without identifying specific sites. A broader understanding of the tensions experienced by farmers coping with climate change and economic pressures as understood through discussion with farmer-participants was communicated through a mosaic sculpture ‘The Farmer’s Voice,’ which was co-designed with farmers and scientists, together with a professional artist, including incorporation of anonymised phrases from participants in Welsh and English. An initial series of possible designs was created following initial interviews, and the final design was chosen after consultation with farmer-participants. Anonymised feedback on sustainable farming and climate change from further workshops was used to inform more detailed technical drawings. In particular, the role of design and management of tree planting schemes and the historic role of farmers in caring for the environment through coppicing and hedgerow maintenance emerged as significant themes during the project. Technical drawings were approved by farmer-participants, who also suggested inclusion of phrases in Welsh and English. The final sculpture, co-designed in partnership with farmers, scientists, and a professional artist, was created from copper wire, recycled glass, and Welsh slate, representing an abstract tree demonstrating farmer resilience through and need for support and nourishment in the face of climate change. The sculpture will be exhibited at the Royal Welsh Show 2022.

How to cite: Follett, E., Turnbull, P., Davis, L., Wilson, C., and Cable, J.: Environmental resilience in rural Wales (UK): the role of art in scientist-artist-farmer engagement, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11481, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11481, 2022.

14:32–14:38
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EGU22-11694
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Virtual presentation
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Sarah L Dance, Hugo Dalton, Clare Carolin, Joanna Clark, Nerea Ferrando Jorge, Helen Hooker, and David Mason

We present an ongoing series of pop-up exhibitions in residential care homes around Windsor, United Kingdom (UK).  Each display was created to give communities access to science and an understanding of research taking place in their local area. The artworks were created by artist Hugo Dalton from a residency with Prof. Sarah L Dance at the University of Reading, UK. They depict areas of her team’s research into mapping urban flooding by the River Thames. To contextualise the research and to spark interest with elderly viewers, historical watercolours of the area were also exhibited in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor. The watercolour genre has origins which coincide with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: Watercolour and the picturesque movement can be seen as an early form of climate awareness.  

 

The scientific research that the collaboration builds on includes a method for detecting flooding in urban areas by merging near real-time satellite observations of flooding from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with model-derived flood hazard maps. Watercolour, as a painting medium, mirrors that the way that the data are used: Artists, like scientists, layer together different types of raw information to produce a coherent distillation for the viewer. Dalton painted in the exact locations where the scientific case studies were conducted, and developed these sketches in the studio into a series of artworks paired with scientific information.

 

For the art installation a frameless mobile fixing system was developed, working closely with the care home staff. This allowed artworks to be easily removed from the wall and inspected up close for residents with limited sight, or moved into the rooms of bed-bound residents. The reverse side of each had a short explanatory text.  Members of care home staff visited the artist’s studio to gain a deeper insight into the art and science. They could then recount this knowledge to their communities, becoming citizen advocates. Staff also used the artworks as starting points for activities.

 

This science-art collaboration empowers communities to understand and feel proud of science in their local area. The project’s wide reach extended beyond the residents to those who visited the homes, including relatives and their children.  Each paired set of artworks formed a talking point and enlivened the visual surroundings. Being geographically linked to their location the artworks provided a way for residents to share their lived experience of climate change. The future aim is to partner with other venues, including public houses and village halls to widen audience engagement.

 

 

How to cite: Dance, S. L., Dalton, H., Carolin, C., Clark, J., Ferrando Jorge, N., Hooker, H., and Mason, D.: Assimilated Watercolours: Pop up art exhibitions in Care Homes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11694, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11694, 2022.

14:38–14:44
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EGU22-12162
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Virtual presentation
Larissa A. Naylor, Rachel Clive, and Daniel Metcalfe

As human populations rapidly urbanise and urban ecosystems and geosystems continue to degrade, there is an urgent need to green the greyest parts of our cities for biodiversity and climate change adaptation, as well as to create spaces where humans can interact and engage with nature. Although scientists and ecologists are often asked to inform designers, engineers and manufacturers engaged in integrated greening of grey infrastructures, it is rare for science-design collaborations to lead innovation and implementation in this field. We outline a long-term multidisciplinary project in which proven ecosystems engineering science was used as a starting point for a co-creating a collaborative, innovative multifunctional design; this co-design process can influence ecosystems engineering practices at various scales. 

 

Working on infrastructure projects involves people who speak very different languages and who have very different priorities and practical agendas working collaboratively. This can bring tensions as well as potentialities, both of which can affect implementation of innovation at scale. Increasingly, calls are being made by ecologists, social scientists and local communities for more reflexive practices in urban ecosystems projects which are working across traditional boundaries, to help steer a way through these complexities. Engaging in these processes is not an optional extra but a necessary part of the changes we need to make together. Responding to urgent demands to improve climate resilience, empower communities, and reduce the "extinction of experience of nature" facing many humans in urban areas, while also alleviating the effects of climate change on humans and built infrastructures, is daunting for practitioners. We reflect on our collaborative practice with academics and practical designers, mould makers and manufacturers, to share our learnings and introduce a visual / technical science-design process guide. We hope this will be valuable to those seeking collaborative ways of working on science-design projects that have practical infrastructure applications. 

How to cite: Naylor, L. A., Clive, R., and Metcalfe, D.: Reflecting on how science-design processes at the interface between ecology-geomorphology-art-design-manufacturing-engineering can lead to important innovations and models of practice., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12162, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12162, 2022.

14:44–14:50
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EGU22-12755
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ECS
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Highlight
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Virtual presentation
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Schuyler Houser, Eka Chlara Budiarti, Azis Azis, Tonis Afrianto, and Daru Rini

The challenges of plastic waste-related river pollution in the Brantas River basin in East Java, Indonesia, are the focus of concern for a core group of water managers, scientists, engineers, and environmental activists. But some of the most operable solutions to plastic waste pollution fall largely on the shoulders of citizens, who take on the bulk of solid waste management through community models, influence over allocation of government funding at the village level for waste management, and daily improvisation related to waste disposal from the household. Nevertheless, generally low community interest in solid waste management and river health is a commonly-cited barrier to the scaling up of available community-based waste management models – an issue repeatedly mentioned by social scientists, river activists, and government agents alike. Disinterest is attributed to a low level of knowledge about river health, inability to visualize sources and resultant problems due to river flows, and the absence of effective science communication targeting the communities who are both most affected by and most influencing of plastic waste streams.

The Brantas XOXO project initiated by Ecoton, a river action NGO, couples photography, sculpture, and performative community art with practical waste management solutions in a traveling exhibit. Brantas XOXO aims to inspire interest and action in plastic waste amongst riverine communities and empower citizens to participate in policy deliberation and solution-finding. Within the traveling exhibit, three art installations are coupled with exhibits highlighting community-based solutions for waste reduction, waste management, and river education to create an engaging context for science communication. An immersive plastic bottle tunnel sculpture, constructed from plastic waste taken from the Brantas, demonstrates the average amount of bottle waste produced by one resident of the Brantas basin in a year – much of which ends up in water resources - in order to visually communicate the scale of plastic waste. A photography exhibition includes images of life on the river, river pollution, and impacts of plastic pollution on riverine life. Last, a community problem tree sculpture invites participants to share their concerns and hopes for river health in a collaborative sculpture. These community inputs are to be collated and included in deliberations over a joint problem analysis with government agencies and industry. The three art exhibits are also complemented by additional Brantas XOXO stations focused on river water quality testing and monitoring, community models for waste management, and bulk or non-plastic alternative goods for household consumption (e.g., refillable cooking oil, cloth diapers). 

How to cite: Houser, S., Budiarti, E. C., Azis, A., Afrianto, T., and Rini, D.: Brantas XOXO: Community river art for river community action, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12755, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12755, 2022.