Polar Zero: Science in Art
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal College of Art
Department Name: Research Office
Abstract
Polar Zero aims to make an innovative cultural contribution to COP26 through an academic research and public science-art partnership that includes leading institutions - British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Arup, the Royal College of Art - in collaboration with artist Wayne Binitie, a PhD Fine Arts student funded by AHRC - http://waynebinitie.com/research.
For the last 5 years Wayne has collaborated on the Data as Art project Aesthetics of Water with ice core scientists, the creative team and public engagement specialists at BAS. This project has led to public exhibitions, and the involvement of engineering expertise from Arup. The project is a critical element of Wayne's PhD research. Working with UKRI, UKRI-NERC and the UK Govt Cabinet Office Chief Events Officer for COP26, BAS has brokered a collaboration with the official COP26 venue partner - the internationally acclaimed Glasgow Science Centre.
A programme of public engagement, intergovernmental science diplomacy, media and social media engagement will stimulate new ways of thinking, and new ways to express the impact of climate change on humanity. Polar Zero emerges just as the idea of rethinking the human and non-human history of the Polar Regions is more urgent than ever before.
Polar Zero is a science-art collaborative partnership proposal that will:
- Support the UK Government's COP26 plans
- Celebrate UK research and innovation in the fields of science, art and engineering
- Highlight UK's role in climate action
- Inspire action at all levels of society from high-level intergovernmental policy to local communities
- Generate positive media, stakeholder and public engagement
- Further develop a science-art collaboration that brings personal and professional benefit to early career artist Wayne Binitie
- Celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion
For the last 5 years Wayne has collaborated on the Data as Art project Aesthetics of Water with ice core scientists, the creative team and public engagement specialists at BAS. This project has led to public exhibitions, and the involvement of engineering expertise from Arup. The project is a critical element of Wayne's PhD research. Working with UKRI, UKRI-NERC and the UK Govt Cabinet Office Chief Events Officer for COP26, BAS has brokered a collaboration with the official COP26 venue partner - the internationally acclaimed Glasgow Science Centre.
A programme of public engagement, intergovernmental science diplomacy, media and social media engagement will stimulate new ways of thinking, and new ways to express the impact of climate change on humanity. Polar Zero emerges just as the idea of rethinking the human and non-human history of the Polar Regions is more urgent than ever before.
Polar Zero is a science-art collaborative partnership proposal that will:
- Support the UK Government's COP26 plans
- Celebrate UK research and innovation in the fields of science, art and engineering
- Highlight UK's role in climate action
- Inspire action at all levels of society from high-level intergovernmental policy to local communities
- Generate positive media, stakeholder and public engagement
- Further develop a science-art collaboration that brings personal and professional benefit to early career artist Wayne Binitie
- Celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion
| Description | Polar Zero was a significant presence at COP26 which showed a wide, global audience how research into our glacial past demonstrates both the beauty and fragility of the natural world and the urgent need to protect it. Media coverage and attendee feedback was unanimously positive and proved that the exhibition caused people to think differently about climate change as well as underlying the importance of working to mitigate its effects. The Big Issue described Polar Zero as a "thought provoking" contribution to the COP26 Green Zone and The Guardian noted that the exhibition was a "multisensory experience at a time when it seems more urgent than ever before to ask what it means to touch and be in touch with the Earth". The exhibition was profiled in multiple national and regional news outlets in the UK as well as internationally. All partner organisations were credited widely with BBC News noting that "the small but striking installation is an unusual artistic collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey" and The Daily Mail crediting AHRC's significant "£101,302 funding for the project which will bring climate science, art and engineering together". A range of high-profile broadcast opportunities were also secured including features which ran multiple times on the BBC World Service and interviews with Wayne Binitie and BAS scientists on BBC Radio Scotland. The diverse range of outlets who covered the exhibition brought the messages of Polar Zero to a range of niche audiences who are less commonly exposed to the kinds of climate science it drew from such as fashion interest readers of Vogue Brazil and contemporary art interest readers of OCULA. Coverage in outlets such as BBC Newsround brought the message of Polar Zero to young audiences at the heart of future climate action. Polar Zero generated over one-thousand interactions on social media including support from key stakeholders in government and policy such as the official account of the Secretary of State for Scotland and influential social media personalities such as the hosts of the BBC's Good Morning Scotland. |
| Exploitation Route | • Promote science-arts collaborations as a method of provoking thought about climate change. The value of science and art collaboration was highlighted in all communications and was a consistent through line of all coverage. BBC News noted that by cooperating in an art project, BAS was helping people to understand their impact on the polar regions and Nature editor Flora Graham retweeted a BAS post to her 6040 followers describing the exhibition as a "fascinating arts-science collaboration". • Inspire climate action by driving the public to engage with the exhibition physically and virtually. Most coverage included a call to action as outlined in the press releases that explained how people could engage with the exhibition. Multiple pieces of coverage were secured in regional outlets targeted at audiences who were most likely to be able to attend the physical exhibition and the GSC reported that visitors a large number of visitors were heard talking about climate change such as a father who said to his five-year-old: "look, this is what is happening to our planet". • Encourage collaboration between arts researchers and practitioners, scientists, and engineers. Multiple pieces of coverage were secured in outlets aimed at each of the above audiences such as Arts Professional, Further Education News and Design News. These reached audiences who typically engage with news specifically about their field with the message that cross-disciplinary collaboration can yield interesting and impactful results. • Showcase the contribution that UKRI-funded researchers are making to tackling climate change. UKRI and AHRC were namechecked in various high-impact articles and broadcast in all target sectors. UKRI media analysis has shown that Polar Zero achieved a higher volume of coverage than any other UKRI-funded COP26 initiative. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
| URL | https://www.bas.ac.uk/event/polar-zero/ |
| Description | Polar Zero achieved wide-reaching international media coverage which supported each of the objectives of the project and brought its innovative and powerful message about climate change to a potential audience of hundreds of millions. This included online, print, broadcast and social media targeted at a wide range of audiences and sectors, much of which explicitly credited UKRI and AHRC's essential contribution. • Approximately 400 articles and reports in reputable news outlets • Approximately 900M total potential news reach (sum of monthly unique visitors to these outlets) • Coverage in high-impact outlets such as BBC News, ITV News and Yahoo News, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph • Coverage in 10 major international outlets such as Artnet USA and MSN Australia • Over 1000 social media posts and interactions (including likes and retweets) • 34, 943 exhibition attendees • Extensive media mentions of partner organisations including over 300 for BAS and over 200 for AHRC |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |