It won’t stop burning, Doc

Burning Embers climate design contest has a winner [UPDATED] 3

Update! The people have spoken; we have have a winner. Presenting the nifty Tracing Emissions mobile (and a gallery of entries).

climate artPhoto courtesy spike55151 via FlickStory: In June I wrote about Burning Embers, an art and design competition that invited students to create illustrations that reflected the causes and effects of climate change. The idea was that we need more compelling imagery than the sometimes-drab, sometimes-confusing graphics in policy reports. Well, four intriguing finalists have been selected—a video, a photo essay, a set of “animal cards,” and a mobile (the last is my favorite).

Ji Lee, creative director of the Google Creative Lab, did the judging for the organizer, the non-profit Artist as Citizen. Commenters on the Dot Earth blog of New York Times science reporter Andy Revkin will vote for the winner. Revkin pitched the early idea for a climate art competition after reporting on the problematic “burning embers” graph in a 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

Anyway, have a look at the four finalists—they’re all worthwhile. Then vote for a favorite at Dot Earth, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Thin Ice
M. Drennan, School of Visual Arts, M.F.A., Photography, 2009

Extinct
D. Kim, Parsons School of Design, B.F.A., Communication Design, 2009

Tracing Emissions
T. Holliday, S. Reagin, Pratt Institute, both M.F.A., 2011

Climate Change
M. Shapiro, New York University, B.F.A. Film, 2011:

Climate Change from ArtistAsCitizen on Vimeo.

Jonathan Hiskes is a Grist staff writer. He reports, tweets, eats, asks questions, self-promotes, looks out windows, and wonders if it could be like this.

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  1. Fred4Peace Posted 2:33 pm
    18 Sep 2009

    Re the fourth finalist, Climate Change, featuring school children, I couldn't help noticing that boys far outnumbered girls (why?), who may or may not have shared the violent fantasies of their male classmates. We'll never know, because the film maker DID NOT LET US HEAR ONE FEMALE STUDENT'S VOICE OR SEE HER ARTWORK (am I allowed to capitalize?). I would further attribute the boys' apparent glee at the violence and death that would accompany global warming at least in part to the TV, movies and video games that children are exposed to. I hope that the teacher had a more thoughtful discussion about global warming with the class after the cameras were off...

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  2. swan's avatar

    swan Posted 3:24 pm
    19 Sep 2009

    I was not able to view two of the entries. This is not a good presentation. I would have liked to see and comment on the artists but I can't do that. Bummer.

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  3. Johan E Posted 8:01 pm
    20 Sep 2009

    My main problem with all these entries is that they really don't contribute to clarify the problem of climate change or offer improvements to "the chart" that set this whole thing off. All the entries illustrate the problem in a very interpreted and interesting way but don't make me as a viewer better equipped than I already was before studying the work.

    "Thin ice" offers a clear example of what is affected today.

    "Extinct" complicates the graphing of the problem more than it helps clarifying it.

    "Tracing emissions" does the same thing as the above example but is even more confusing.

    The film "Climate change" illustrates the human attitudes to the issue very clearly. The kids are very exited about the things dying and suffering. The sensational aspects are very clearly illustrated. Yet, no information is clarified.

    I think this task is almost impossible to solve. The four entries are really astounding as art pieces but personally I would have preferred something that illustrated the effects of global warming more clearly.

    Of all the entries, I prefer "thin ice" since it's the clearest example of the global warming effects today.

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