Artists Respond to COP26

By Paige Miller

As public art gains ground in Glasgow city, climate justice gains ground in the art world.

Daniel Rupaszov’s mural at Hayburn Street in Partick, next to a zero-waste store in Glasgow. © 2021 Bianca Csenski, BBC News.

The COP26 conference comes at a critical time, as politicians from around the world come together to address the climate crisis. Among the topics discussed, the main goal of COP 26 was to brainstorm strategic and actionable plans in order to meet the goal of keeping warming to under 1.5 degrees celsius (Friedman). Artists working in many mediums have responded to this meeting of world leaders through their work. COP26, itself, culminated on the last day with a multi-media session presented by Brian Eno, an artist and musician. His presentation included other creatives working across mediums (Gaskin).  

Outside the conference rooms and meetings, the urgency of the climate crisis is reverberated on the streets of Glasgow. Muralists like Hungarian artist, Daniel Rupasav, 25, have been traveling for several years to the locations of COP conferences to create public art and this year’s convention in Glasgow was no different. Ruspasav and the artists he works with, hope to immortalize the spirit of the COP conferences through their public art (McDermott). Not one, but three murals were painted in Glasgow this yea. Placed in strategic points across the city, including a zero-waste shop, this is an artistic endeavor supported by Friends of the Earth Scotland (McDermott). These murals will not only be reminders of COP26, but also will serve to provoke the public consciousness of climate issues.  

Salmon School by Joseph Rossano being installed at the Blue Zone at COP26 © 2021 the artist.  

Public murals in Glasgow are far from the only artistic responses to the climate crisis, as Jenny Holzer, Mary Ellen Carroll, Steuart Padwick and other big names in the art world use their artistic voice to call for climate justice (Gaskin). Artists are drawn to highlight the climate issues they are passionate about, in works ranging from public sculpture to text based art. Artworks now installed in Glasgow city range in the issues they address. Joseph Rossano speaks to rising sea temperatures in his Salmon School, while Mary Ellen Carroll uses renewable energy to comment on the energy crisis (Harris).  

Mary Ellen Carroll's indestructible language (2021) at the Schoolhouse, Glasgow for COP26. © 2021 Mary Ellen Carroll, MEC studios and photography by Dougie Lindsay. 

In response to increased vocalization for climate justice by artists in recent years, the art world has taken action in support of climate efforts. Christie’s has partnered with the Gallery Climate Coalition and ClientEarth, an organization that systematically confronts large corporations about climate change through the law. Together, the three launched a series of evening sales in 2020, 2021 and 2022, featuring artists like Cecily Brown and Xie Nanxing. A key component of the works chosen for auction is that they be as local as possible to the location of sale, in an effort to minimize the carbon emissions from shipping (Gallery Climate Coalition). An increasingly globalized art world has immense power to not only speak to climate issues, but to adapt business practices to be more earth friendly. Artists creating public installations in response to COP26 and creating climate-centered art  generally are at the forefront of this movement. If current trends hold, climate justice will continue to gain momentum in the art world. 

Bibliography

Friedman, Lisa. “What Is COP26? And Other Questions About the Big U.N. Climate Summit”.  New York Times. Published November 12 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/article/ what-is-cop26-climate-change-summit.html. 

Gallery Climate Coalition. “Gallery Climate Coalition, Christie’s and ClientEarth launch  'Artists for ClientEarth”, Gallery Climate Coalition, Published August 3 2021. https:// galleryclimatecoalition.org/news/54-gallery-climate-coalition-christies-and- clientearth-launch-artists/. 

Gaskin, Sam. “The Artists Leading Action on Climate Change During COP26”. Ocula.  Published November 8 2021. https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/artists-leading- action-on-climate-change-at-cop26/. 

McDermott, Sarah. “My Day at COP26: 'I'm painting murals so people don't forget COP  happened here’ ”. BBC News Services. Published November 10 2021. https:// www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59209276. 

by Paige Miller