CAMBIARTE: ART FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

The CambiARTE contest was designed in 2015 in the context of the Climate Finance event to bring climate change closer to society in general. With the conviction that the power of art can make us aware of our reality and touch what makes us human, the SISCLIMA Financial Management Committee,  the French Development Agency (AFD) and Fondo Acción created CambiARTE, a national contest to develop artistic proposals that help raise awareness and educate the public about climate change. The aim has been to support the creation of new narratives on climate change that awaken emotions, cause us to question, and thus motivate changes in mentality and behavior in those who participate in the artistic proposals.

 

Previous proposals have included artistic workshops with children and adults to raise awareness about climate change, creating specific connections with ecosystems, water, energy, and food, as well as research and creative processes by collectives of artists who have produced comics, music, illustrations, and installations. The processes and results of artistic creation have been displayed in museums, public libraries, and cultural institutes with previously convened audiences, and even with citizens in general through events in public spaces in Cúcuta and Manizales. The results have also been presented at climate events for individuals and organizations interested in the issue.

 

 

With these proposals, a gathering point has been created between environmental and cultural sectors by supporting the production of content that not only makes climate change tangible and close, but also develops languages and symbols that are able to reach a wide audience. Therefore, the proposals are creative solutions to one of the biggest challenges we have today and show how simple, everyday actions are part of the answer.

 

Below is a brief summary of the projects that have been implemented:

 

-El efímero bosque del recuerdo (The ephemeral forest of memory), Grecia Quintero, Cúcuta. Workshops with children about the climate, dry forests, water, and food. Children made drawings that were animated with the stop motion technique and then projected on ice blocks made with rainwater, which were placed on a median during an evening bikeday (ciclovía).

 

-ClimaCo, Lucía Caicedo, Bogotá. Design, layout, and animation of ten digital comics that use humor, irony, and climate action to communicate against issues such as snow melting, energy consumption, GHG emissions associated with deforestation and livestock, among others. One of the comics includes conclusions about “the future we dream about,” made by children who participated in an illustration and comic workshop in Bogotá’s Botanical Garden.

 

-Sinfonía reciclada, paz con la naturaleza (Recycled symphony, peace with nature), Andrea Defrancisco, Choachí. Workshops on the creation of musical instruments made with discarded materials, and on music composition with children and adolescents from Benposta school, who wrote a song expressing their feelings and actions in the face of climate change.

 

-Climasters, el desafío del clima (Climasters, the climate challenge), Diana Aguirre, Bogotá. Three climate stations with technical information about climate change and some solutions, in which infographics and sensoramas were used to motivate physical connections. They were installed in three public libraries, with previously trained facilitators and educators to guide students and the public through their visit.

 

-Cantoverde (Green music), Colombian children’s music to sow actions against climate change, Andrés Villamil, Bogotá. Collection of ten original songs with music and lyrics about climate change, nine of which correspond to each of the regional climate change nodes. For the composition of one of the songs, a workshop was held with children from the environmental school of FundaReserva in Barichara, Santander. A concert was held at the National Museum of Colombia and a workshop was held for music teachers at the Pedagogical University of Tunja.

 

-La maleta de Álec: Del fuego cavernícola a las energías renovables (Alec’s suitcase: From primitive fire to renewable energies), Asociación de Amigos del Instituto Caro y Cuervo, Bogotá. Workshops with children from schools in La Candelaria about energy, which included talks, academic book reviews, and a guided visit to a facility made with the project. Based on the children’s comments, environmental content was proposed for Alec’s suitcase (ethnographic and lexicographic atlas of Colombia).

 

-#ElClimaEstáLoco (#TheClimateIsCrazy), Transforma, Bogotá. Design, creation, and illustration of comics about climate change, its consequences, and practical and everyday solutions which will be published on physical and digital platforms. They are aimed at young people and adults in urban areas. It is still in progress.

Alegorías del buen oficio: Arte doméstico (Well-crafted allegories: Domestic art), Paula Ravagly, Manizales. Workshops with a psychologist and an artist to graphically represent environmental pacts as well as motivations by means of allegories. With these representations, trash cans located on one of the main streets in the city were used. The result of the project was exhibited at the French Alliance in Manizales.

 

Cambio: procesos de transformaciónand El aire es perjudicial para la salud (Change: transformation processes and Air is harmful to health), Melissa Pareja, Bogotá. In an artistic residency as part of the FLORA School, the artist developed a research – exploration – creation process focused on three pillars of the relationship between human beings and climate change: air because of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, water because of its supply as a basis for life but also as a recipient for waste, and the semantics of climate change to explore the content and weight that these words have, since when they have been used, how they are used, who uses them.

 

-Forestaciones (Forestation), FLORA ars+natura, Bogotá. Educational and urban reforestation program which consisted of community work to train those interested in adopting a tree through theoretical/practical workshops in planting techniques, permaculture and garden maintenance in the San Felipe neighborhood.