Towards a sciart prospectus for climate change

Abstract

Cross disciplinary collaboration and exchange between scientists and artists has grown rapidly over the last twenty years and is providing material and evidence employed in the understanding of, and responses to climate change. The sciart field is wide ranging but operates at the margins, vulnerable to the floating focus of project based endeavour. This dissertation explores what a prospectus for sciart may look like from the perspective of those engaged in scientific practice relating to climate change. The investigation is introduced through a polar lens that provides a historical and conceptual frame for survey and interview work with Antarctic earth scientists and leading sciart proponents. Key themes arising from the research are identified before a consideration of an evaluative framework for sciart practice. The development of sciart is related to a wider process of inter and transdisciplinarity which informs a number of suggested pointers for a deeper embedding of sciart in the scientific response to climate change.