A new community project aiming to open the conversation on decarbonisation has started.
Scores of people attended Stanley Picker Gallery on October 7 to see Sunlight doesn’t need a pipeline (SDNP).
The opening day included commissioned talks, screenings and performances by creatives and community groups.
Co-creator Dani Admiss started planning the project during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said: “It’s about creating a network of artworkers to think about the future.”
Admiss said she believed it was more crucial than ever for creatives to serve the environment and communities in the aftermath of COVID-19.
SDNP is a collaborative literacy and climate justice project funded by the Stanley Picker Trust, Arts Council England and Kingston University. It has run 10 commissions for the past year responding to decarbonisation.
The outcome is a resource for creatives to use to reduce carbon emissions. It includes essays, research and art on topics like holistic carbon reporting, anti-offsetting primer and carbon literacy training.
A coalition of artists and designers showed their support for the SDNP ethos. Ellie Harrison, author of The Glasgow Effect and speaker on the opening day, said: “I think all galleries should be programming stuff like this where we’re talking about the most important conversations of our time.”
SDNP sees the climate emergency as a social, political and environmental problem. It believes current paths towards decarbonisation put forward by politicians are uncertain.
Organisers plan for SDNP to be used by creatives to develop their own environmental policies or as a negotiation point when commissioned by galleries.
In the spirit of opening conversations on a large scale, the day’s events were live-streamed and recorded. They can be watched on the SDNP website, designed by Studio Hyte to run on 100% renewable energy.
Admiss added: “I wanted the festival to give more than it takes and because we can’t give back our energy emissions – the sunlight we’ve already used – we’re giving the gallery space over to local community organisations.”
Stanley Picker Gallery is open to local community groups until the end of October for events related to SDNP. Creative Youth, Flowers We Gift to Ukraine and Hogsmill Community Garden have already signed up to use the space.
For enquiries to use the gallery contact stanleypickergallery@kingston.ac.uk
