Kathleen Vaughan

6.38 The Desire for Impact: Can Arts-science Interdisciplinarity Help us Meaningfully Address Climate Change? If so, How? (Paper) – virtual

Kathleen Vaughan – Concordia University, Montreal, Canada – virtual

Abstract:

Motivated by a need to help make a positive impact on public opinion and policy in these times of climate catastrophe and massive species extinctions, artists and art educators are turning to collaborations with environmental scientists. Many of us seek to bring together our expertises -- artists’ generalist capacities with scientists’ niche depth work -- in a way that can lead to new outcomes that make a difference. But how do these collaborations work in practice? This illustrated paper offers one artist-educator’s perspective, looking back at the achievements and limitations of one major project and forward to the next, both exploring the ecosystems and imaginaries of the St. Lawrence River. I ask, what can I learn from the outcomes of my first five-year (2019-2024) Canadian research and research-creation arts-science initiative, as I plan new collaborative work exploring climate change impacts in the same region? What theoretical underpinnings or methodological approaches seem best placed to allow for meaningful interdisciplinary engagement with the ‘wicked problem’ of climate breakdown? What kind of engagement is most likely to make a difference to members of the general public? To policy makers? How can an artist-researcher know their work is having a positive impact? This paper offers hopeful but realistic suggestions, embedded within the ecological realities of the Lower St. Lawrence River Valley, and with the aim of being useful to environmentally-implicated artist-researchers worldwide.