What Art Can Do About Climate Change? - with Alice Sharp and Rana Begum

What can art do about climate change that science, facts, and frightening headlines can’t?

That question has driven curator Alice Sharp for more than fifteen years. As Artistic Director of Invisible Dust, she brings leading artists and scientists together to create something neither could have arrived at alone.

Her latest project, Climate Clock, created for Oulu’s year as European Capital of Culture in Finland, brings together seven permanent public artworks exploring climate change through our relationship with nature and time. Each artist was paired with a scientist, with Alice creating the conditions for those conversations to become something genuinely new.

One of those artists is Rana Begum, whose collaboration with glaciologist Alan Hubbard transformed footage of glaciers breaking apart into a monumental work made from locally sourced stone, evoking both the weight and fragility of ice.

In this conversation, Alice talks about trust, risk, fundraising, scientists, communities and the invisible infrastructure behind ambitious public art. Rana takes us inside the artist’s process: what happens when new knowledge enters your imagination, how work changes as it meets a place, and why the best collaborations leave room for surprise.

And we ask: if information alone isn’t changing our behaviour, can artists help us feel our way towards a different future?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Art can help us imagine climate futures in ways that facts and science alone cannot. Bringing artists and scientists together creates space for new perspectives, questions, thought provoking work and unexpected outcomes. 

Art doesn’t have to turn climate science into a neat lesson. It can hold beauty and fear together, creating a pause where people can feel, notice and ask questions.

Public art doesn’t need to be removed from everyday life to have impact — placing challenging work where people encounter it unexpectedly can start conversations and change how communities see themselves.

Artists help shape the futures we can imagine.

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