Communicating Climate Change Through Public Art
John Craig Freeman, Professor, Visual and Media Arts at Emerson
WHAT’S YOUR BIG IDEA?
A public art installation, including a wooden rowboat mounted atop a 20-foot pylon with a color-coded gauge indicating expected sea level rise as a result of global warming and climate change, which the public could visualize through an augmented reality app on their smartphones.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
With sea levels rising and storms growing more extreme, climate change poses a significant threat to the City of Boston. Scientists estimate that, by the end of the century, up to 30 percent of city land could be overtaken by water.
Can you imagine downtown Boston under 10 feet of water? This disconcerting reality is exactly what John Craig Freeman, public artist and Visual and Media Arts professor, hopes to communicate with “A Boat for One: Boston Sea Level Rise.” His concept is to build a public art installation with an augmented reality piece to make the public aware of the devastating effects of climate change on our local environment, and show how our actions today could help reverse the course we’re on.
“Public space is now truly open, as artworks can be placed anywhere in the world, without prior permission from curators, governments, or private authorities—with profound implications for art in the public sphere and the discourse that surrounds it,” Freeman said.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment report by the US Global Change Research Program estimates significant levels of flooding in Boston by the year 2100. Freeman’s idea is to use a color-coded gauge on the installation that would correspond to levels of action that we might take now to combat the effects of climate change, such as limiting the burning of fossil fuels. The lower gauges on the installation, representing water rise, would be connected to higher levels of current action to combat climate change. And those higher gauges? They point to much more serious outcomes—such as a downtown Boston fully submerged in the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s hard to imagine a more effective project that could be implemented relatively easily, with an immediate impact for anyone walking by with their smartphone. While there would be logistics such as funding and insurance to sort out, the striking simplicity of the concept could have a great impact, especially if it’s installed in such well-traveled places as Boston Common or the Public Garden.
Freeman, whose work relies on a model of authentic public engagement that connects people and their environment, said this concept does not have to be limited to Boston. It could be built all along the New England coastline. With unlimited funding, his idea could be implemented on any coast in the United States—and across the world.
