Why Artists Need the Picturing Climate Network: From Representation to Knowledge Co-Production
- Dr. Mark Kasumovic
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
Climate change is no longer a phenomenon restricted to the laboratory; it has become what Bruno Latour describes as a "worldwide lab," where knowledge production is deeply entangled with cultural, political, and emotional imaginaries. For the contemporary artist, the Picturing Climate Network (PCN) offers a critical infrastructure to transition from being a mere communicator of scientific results to becoming an epistemic partner in the research process.
Access to "Tacit Knowledge" and Collaborative Environments
For many artists, navigating technical environments—from complex climate models to field research stations—presents significant barriers. PCN serves as the "connective tissue" that removes these obstacles by facilitating direct contact with the scientific community. Through our network, artists gain access to:
Scientific Tools and Sites: Opportunities to embed practice within empirical inquiry, gaining access to the methodologies and field sites of climate science.
Structured Matchmaking: A digital platform designed to move beyond serendipitous encounters, connecting artists with researchers based on shared conceptual or regional interests.
Developing an "Aesthetics of Complexity"
Interdisciplinary collaboration offers more than new subject matter; it provides a framework for rigorous inquiry. By engaging with the sciences, artists can move beyond the "scientification" of the world and instead adopt scientific methods as tools for critical reflection. PCN supports artists in:
Enhanced Ecological Literacy: Acquiring new methodological skills and systematic approaches that enhance the artist's capacity to understand and represent complex environmental challenges.
Addressing "Wicked Problems": Developing an "aesthetics of complexity" necessary for addressing challenges that are socially contested and resistant to definitive solutions.
Navigating the Funding and "Impact" Landscape
A major challenge for artists is securing sustainable support for investigative practice. PCN aligns artistic ambition with established routes to interdisciplinary funding. As major funding bodies (such as Horizon Europe or the UK’s Research Excellence Framework) increasingly prioritise "demonstrable impact," the value of artistic expertise in visual and cultural communication becomes indispensable.
Integrated Budgeting: We advocate for funding creative dissemination in parallel with scientific research, ensuring artists are recognized as essential research facilitators rather than peripheral "add-ons".
Evaluation Evidence: PCN provides artists with access to embedded evaluation frameworks, helping to generate the "proof of concept" and impact evidence required for successful grant applications.
A Call for Transdisciplinary Action
The most powerful collaborations redefine research culture itself, allowing artists and scientists to co-produce knowledge that resonates across cultural and cognitive boundaries. PCN is the platform where these new forms of knowledge are built.
Join the movement to reimagining how we know, feel, and act upon the climate crisis together. Register your practice at picturingclimate.org.
Further Reading & References
Barrett, E., and Bolt, B. (2007): Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry. London: I.B. Tauris.
Demos, T. J. (2016): Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Berlin: Sternberg Press.
Gabrys, J., and Yusoff, K. (2012): Arts, sciences and climate change: practices and politics at the threshold. Science as Culture, 21 (1).
Kagan, S. (2015): Artistic research and climate science: transdisciplinary learning and spaces of possibilities. Journal of Science Communication, 14 (1).
Latour, B. (1993): We Have Never Been Modern. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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