“It was as if we’d opened the floodgates,” says Christine Esposito, project director and lead curator for Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate.
Photo by Jamie Davis.
Interview with Christine Esposito, Project Director & Lead Curator
THIRD COAST DISRUPTED: ARTISTS + SCIENTISTS ON CLIMATE
Glass Curtain Gallery—Columbia College Chicago
1104 S. Wabash Ave., 1st Floor, Chicago
September 8 – October 30, 2020
Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm
Gallery capacity: 10 visitors. Masks are required.
colum.edu/thirdcoast and ThirdCoastDisrupted.org
Third Coast Disrupted: Artists + Scientists on Climate is an exhibition of new artworks culminating a yearlong conversation between artists and scientists centered on climate change impacts and solutions in the Chicago region.
Through science-inspired sculpture, painting, collage and more, the artworks examine local impacts—happening here and now—ranging from extreme heat to flooding to habitat loss and more. They also shine light on local solutions underway, like “cool roofs,” nature-based approaches to slowing stormwater, and backyard habitat restoration. Some imagine future possibilities.
This inventive project is the brainchild of Christine Esposito, founder of Terracom, who has directed the process and led curation for the exhibition. She explains: “Third Coast Disrupted is based on the notion that art can uniquely connect and engage with people on an emotional level. It can spur curiosity, be unexpected, tactile, interactive, evocative, and memorable. It can slow people down, inspire them to reflect, move them to talk to each other—and spur them to act.”
The project is a collaboration of Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University’s Institute for Nature and Culture, and Terracom.
Q: Why did you decide to bring scientists and artists together around the topic of climate change?
A: We need new ways to engage people with climate change and foster climate action, ways that can cut through the digital clutter. Scientists are the first to say that talking about the science isn’t bringing about the kind of response we need. Because of art’s ability to activate the senses and connect with people on an emotional and even personal level, it can create more lasting impressions that inspire people to learn more and act.
An effort in Fairbanks, Alaska, similar to Third Coast Disrupted, demonstrates what’s possible. In a survey of visitors to a science-inspired, climate-related art exhibit there, 71 percent of respondents said they wanted to learn more about the topic. That project and that finding sparked Third Coast Disrupted.
Another driver of convening artists and scientists around local climate change was the notion that innovation happens at the intersection of disciplines and ideas. We wanted to create opportunities for innovation.
Q: Who are the participants, and how did you choose them?
A: The artists are Jeremy Bolen, Barbara Cooper, Hector Duarte, Rosemary Holliday Hall, N. Masani Landfair, Meredith Leich and Andrew S. Yang.
The scientists are Elena Grossman, MPH, Daniel Horton, Ph.D., Abigail Derby Lewis, Ph.D., Aaron Packman, Ph.D., Katherine Moore Powell, Ph.D., Desi Robertson-Thompson, Ph.D., Phil Willink, Ph.D.
We sought participants who are or have been local to our region and who were interested in interdisciplinary collaboration.
To limit the complexities of presenting the artworks, we focused on visual arts, while pursuing diversity in artistic medium, age and ethnicity. We wanted artists with an environmental focus.
For the scientists, we drew on the Chicago Wilderness Climate Change Task Force and others who knew of local scientists addressing climate change. We sought to represent research into a range of impacts on people, plants and animals of the Chicago area, along with a variety of local adaptation and resilience efforts.
Flooded McDonald’s, part of Chicago and the Rain by Meredith Leich for Third Coast Disrupted: Artists and Scientists on Climate.
Q: What are the results?
A: The results of Third Coast Disrupted are still unfolding. The most imminent are the seven new artworks inspired by the yearlong artist-scientist dialogue that comprise the show, as are the public programs that complement it.
Already we have had participants say that they feel the interdisciplinary dialogue has blurred the lines for them between art and science, opening up new ways of seeing and thinking.
As a result of the dialogue, one artist was able to connect the dots between her experiences of living in a chronically flooded home on Chicago’s South Side with climate change. Her artwork for the show is a personal account of the impacts of that flooding, especially the insidious mold.
Ultimately, the hope is that the artworks that grew out of the artist-scientist dialogue and the programs are springboards for more conversations about climate change by the general public, which will advance broader climate action.
Q: How has Covid-19 impacted the project?
A: While a goal of Third Coast Disrupted has always been to cultivate hope by drawing attention to climate change solutions amidst the impacts, Covid-19 made some of our artists even more concerned with balancing the gravity of climate change with hopeful aspects.
The pandemic forced some of our artists to change their approaches to their artworks. For instance, two of them had planned to spend the summer visiting several local natural areas as part of their research. However, Covid-19 prompted them to leave the Chicago area to be closer to family. They had to then adapt the concepts for their works and how they created them.
When the exhibit opens, there will be a limit of 10 visitors in the gallery at a time, with masks. Of course, all programs will now be virtual.
And like most nonprofit endeavors, the pandemic has impacted fundraising for the project.
Q: What has been the most challenging aspect of Third Coast Disrupted?
A: The biggest challenge was creating ample opportunities for the artists and scientists to meet to inspire the artists’ works. They first met at our kickoff retreat in September 2019. Since then we have had four artist-scientist salons, which furthered the dialogue. Meshing the schedules of 14 busy people meant that that was as many gatherings as possible.
Happily, as we’d hoped, there were plenty of artist-scientist conversations that took place beyond our official gatherings.
Q: What surprised you the most?
A: When we had our kickoff artist-scientist retreat last year, we prepared an icebreaker, thinking it might help during the morning welcome reception. It turned out our artists and scientists needed no coaxing to connect. The room was abuzz with conversation from the moment participants began arriving.
At lunch that day, instead of scattering into small groups of colleagues, as might be expected, everyone gathered along one long table. Lively art-science discussions ensued.
It was as if we’d opened the floodgates.
Q: In what way(s) has Third Coast Disrupted succeeded?
A: It has succeeded in fostering creation of seven powerful artworks that uniquely and engagingly draw attention to the climate-related disruptions happening where we live. They are new science-inspired works that help Chicago-area residents see that climate change is not just an issue for the distant future or far-flung places. It’s happening here and now–as are innovative solutions.
One of our goals has been to cultivate community among local artists and scientists addressing climate change. The two-way sharing of information, ideas, practices, and ways of thinking within an interdisciplinary group has been central to Third Coast Disrupted. To that end, many of our artists and scientists have said they want to continue their conversations and find ways to do more projects together.
There has been interest by other venues in traveling the exhibit, which we also take as a positive sign.
For more information, visit colum.edu/thirdcoast and ThirdCoastDisrupted.org.