Art & Environmentalism: Can Artists Save the Planet?
Art’s Vital Role in Shaping Climate Change Policy
Industry insiders argue that art is a powerful tool for direct intervention and should not be underestimated when addressing climate change policy. Teh arts play an “essential” role in shaping environmental governance, according to the united Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC).
Markus Reymann, co-director at TBA21 Thyssen-bornemisza Art Contemporary, believes art and culture can “rekindle relationships” wiht the environment. TBA21 will oversee approximately 20 activities at UNOC, including exhibitions and workshops, to promote regenerative practices and sustainability.
The exhibition “Becoming Ocean: a social conversation about the Ocean” features work from over 20 artists, addressing the primary challenges facing the ocean.
Reymann said art can restore the care and agency that has been externalized to experts, breaking the cycle of consumption.
Artist Maja Petric creates light installations to evoke the feeling of experiencing pristine nature. She said her work influences climate policy by resonating with individuals, sometimes for hours.
Petric’s “Specimens of Time, Hoh Rain Forest, 2025” won an innovation prize. The sculpture, a glass cube, glows with light that changes color based on live temperature data from the Hoh Rain Forest in Washington State.
Petric said the piece explores the question of how we will remember landscapes if they no longer exist in the future.
Past Perspectives
Godfrey Worsdale, director of the Henry Moore Foundation, noted that artists remind society of what might be lost, from Turner landscapes and Constable skyscapes to Richard long’s walks in the wilds.
Worsdale also mentioned Joseph Beuys’ “7000 Oaks” project, where 7,000 oak trees were planted. One stands outside the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, England.
Lula Rappoport, community coordinator at Gallery Climate Coalition, said art makes the climate crisis “easier to comprehend and act upon.”
Rappoport cited Olafur Eliasson’s ice Watch London, where ice blocks from Greenland were brought to London, as an example of bringing distant concepts close to home.
Artist Ahmet Ogut believes art has a “power and agency” that doesn’t need permission from politicians or scientists.
Ogut highlighted lauren Bon’s “Bending the River,” which diverts water from the los Angeles River to irrigate public land, as an artwork that has intervened “directly in ecological infrastructure.”
ogut’s ”Saved by the Whale’s Tail (Saved by Art),” launching at Stratford subway station in London, was inspired by an incident where a train was saved by a whale’s tail sculpture.
Ogut said art helps us stop pretending we’re separate from the planet and advocated for artists to be included early in climate change projects.
He cited Angel Borrego Cubero and Natalie Jeremijenko’s Urban Space station as an example of deeply integrated artistic approaches.
Ogut said more collaborations are needed where artists are involved from the beginning as equal partners.
What’s next
The integration of art in climate change initiatives is expected to grow, fostering greater public engagement and innovative solutions for a lasting future. More artists are needed to collaborate from the start of projects.