Feeling Climate Crisis
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Project description
Feeling Climate Crisis is a series of kinetic data sculptures that visualize the ongoing climate crisis. These sculptures are made with natural plant parts juxtaposed with electromechanical elements. Together they create movement patterns that express climate data. The project creates an experience that allows viewers to ‘feel climate data’. Each sculpture expresses a specific data parameter from the list of planetary vital signs. These parameters include surface temperature change, per capita CO2 emissions, global tree cover loss, etc. Each parameter has historical data starting from 1978 to 2018. Data is referenced from a paper titled World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.
Climate crisis is one of the biggest issues we are facing as a species. In order for us to better our relationship with the environment, we need to understand and be able to talk about the crisis better. Communication of climate crisis ranges from complex scientific publications emphasizing the nuances of the systems of climate change to evocative visuals that appeal to our emotions. This project is an attempt to negotiate this space between the systemic understanding that can be achieved through scientific research, and the evocative possibilities of conversing with the audience at an emotional level. This project asks the question ‘How can we feel climate data’.
While climate data is an immensely rich and growing source of information about our planet, it remains difficult to engage with outside the realm of data science and other scientific disciplines. At the same time, this data remains in the form of tables, charts, and graphs. This project attempts an alternate way to engage with this data that is accessible to everyone and it presents the data in a more engaging way.
For the design process, I began understanding the research in the field of climate science by talking to experts in the field. This included scientists, activists, and science communicators. During this stage, I gained an understanding of the complexity of the climate crisis. I also gained an appreciation for the amount of effort taken by researchers and climate communicators. Through my conversations, I identified effective communication of climate data as an important element in changing perceptions and developing a deep understanding of ecology. In parallel with this activity, I had started collecting various natural objects like driftwood and dried leaves while walking around during the covid pandemic. I was experimenting with using 3D printed mechanisms to recreate some of the natural movements I would observe in nature. As I was exploring ways of communicating climate data, it seemed fitting to use natural objects to tell the story of changes in the environment. I began a series of explorations where I would take up a natural object and a set of climate data and explore ways of communicating this data through movement. Through this process, I created 16 explorations over a span of a year. Some of these were presented in the form of an interactive exhibit where each sculpture is placed on a pedestal along with information about the climate data it expresses.
This project is presented as an interactive installation where the individual sculptures move based on the data parameter they are mapped to. All the sculptures are synced together. In addition to the kinetic sculptures, there is also an input knob to change the year of the data displayed, and a sculpture that displays the year currently being expressed.
Climate crisis is one of the biggest issues we are facing as a species. In order for us to better our relationship with the environment, we need to understand and be able to talk about the crisis better. Communication of climate crisis ranges from complex scientific publications emphasizing the nuances of the systems of climate change to evocative visuals that appeal to our emotions. This project is an attempt to negotiate this space between the systemic understanding that can be achieved through scientific research, and the evocative possibilities of conversing with the audience at an emotional level. This project asks the question ‘How can we feel climate data’.
While climate data is an immensely rich and growing source of information about our planet, it remains difficult to engage with outside the realm of data science and other scientific disciplines. At the same time, this data remains in the form of tables, charts, and graphs. This project attempts an alternate way to engage with this data that is accessible to everyone and it presents the data in a more engaging way.
For the design process, I began understanding the research in the field of climate science by talking to experts in the field. This included scientists, activists, and science communicators. During this stage, I gained an understanding of the complexity of the climate crisis. I also gained an appreciation for the amount of effort taken by researchers and climate communicators. Through my conversations, I identified effective communication of climate data as an important element in changing perceptions and developing a deep understanding of ecology. In parallel with this activity, I had started collecting various natural objects like driftwood and dried leaves while walking around during the covid pandemic. I was experimenting with using 3D printed mechanisms to recreate some of the natural movements I would observe in nature. As I was exploring ways of communicating climate data, it seemed fitting to use natural objects to tell the story of changes in the environment. I began a series of explorations where I would take up a natural object and a set of climate data and explore ways of communicating this data through movement. Through this process, I created 16 explorations over a span of a year. Some of these were presented in the form of an interactive exhibit where each sculpture is placed on a pedestal along with information about the climate data it expresses.
This project is presented as an interactive installation where the individual sculptures move based on the data parameter they are mapped to. All the sculptures are synced together. In addition to the kinetic sculptures, there is also an input knob to change the year of the data displayed, and a sculpture that displays the year currently being expressed.
