FLUXNET is blending art and science to empower society to feel and understand environmental change.
The intricate nature of our planet’s future and the uncertainties it carries offers countless opportunities for us to promote climate action and nurture healthy ecosystems. The bridge between the scientific achievements necessary for these goals and actual global change is constructed by our collective imagination. While both scientists and artists share a creative curiosity to observe and interpret how the world works, scientific outreach efforts often fail to lead society to fully feel and understand environmental change in a way that is empowering. This in turn limits the segment of the population that is inspired by science and driven to contribute to sustainable futures.
To break these barriers and reimagine transformative engagement with the public we are piloting a FLUXNET Artist Residency program in partnership with the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts (PRAx). This novel outreach initiative aims to illuminate the scientific and societal significance of energy, water, and carbon flux research – to contemplate the biosphere’s ‘breath’, both to capture the general public’s imagination and to strengthen communication between academics and stakeholders toward more actionable science.
For a period of one year, flux scientists and artists will engage in collaborative inquiry and curiosity-driven exploration about FLUXNET and their shared interests. This NSF-funded pilot program is being offered for the first time in 2024.
We are pleased to announce the 2024 artist awardees and FLUXNET collaborators:
Julia Oldham (Eugene, OR) is working on the Metolius Cluster of flux towers and collaborating with Chris Still, Professor of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University.
Working in a range of digital media, Julia Oldham visualizes the uneasy collision of nature and technology in a fragile world. She documents extant environments such as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, clear cut forests in Oregon, and swaths of derelict wilderness in New York City, and she also builds fictional worlds through drawing and animation. With tenderness and humor, Oldham explores her own conflicting feelings about human progress through her narrative works, envisioning speculative futures and exploring scientific history. The final works take the form of short films, video installations and print projects. Her practice is research intensive, frequently involving scientists as collaborators.
_________________________________
Mallery Quetawki (Pueblo of Zuni, NM) is working on the Drylands Gradient Cluster of flux towers and collaborating with Marcy Litvak, Professor of Biology at University of New Mexico.
Mallery Quetawki is a communications and Outreach specialist with the Community Environmental Health Program at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy. Mallery has used art to translate scientific ideas, health impacts and research on uranium mines that are currently undergoing study in several Indigenous communities. Her work titled, “Our Cultures, Our Languages” is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City in the Grounded in Clay exhibit in the American Wing through June 2024. Mallery also has a large-scale mural titled, “Morning Prayer”, on permanent display at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center which depicts the history of the Zuni People from Creation to modern times. Other noted work was an interactive Google Doodle that kicked off Native American Heritage Month on November 1, 2021.
_________________________________
David Glowacki (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) is working with FLUXNET as an international network and collaborating with Maoya Bassiouni, Postdoctoral Researcher in Quantitative Ecosystem Dynamics at University of California, Berkeley.
David Glowacki is a cross-disciplinary researcher, artist, and author whose interests span computer science, nanoscience, neuroscience, aesthetics, cultural theory, & spirituality. He is the founder of the ‘Intangible Realities Laboratory’ (IRL), a research group working at the immersive frontiers of scientific, aesthetic, computational, and technological practice. He is the recipient of several research awards, including a Royal Society Research Fellowship, Philip Leverhulme award, ERC grant, SIG-CHI best paper award, and more. Originally from Milwaukee, he graduated from UPenn, where he studied a range of subjects, including chemistry, mathematics, philosophy, comparative literature, and religions. He obtained an MA in cultural theory and a PhD in molecular physics. His immersive digital artworks have been experienced by more than 200,000 people across three continents.
_________________________________
Sara Bouchard (Richmond, VA) is working with experimental flux sites at the Rice Rivers Center and the University of Michigan Biological Station and collaborating with Chris Gough, Professor of Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Sara Bouchard is a multidisciplinary artist and composer who uses sound, performance, installation, creative coding and works on paper to interweave song, story and the landscape. Sara’s collaborations with the environment have included data sonifications, sensor-driven soundscapes and musical improvisations with organic materials. Sara has exhibited and performed internationally, including at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (CT), The Center for Book Arts (NYC), ERES Foundation (Munich, Germany) and the International Conference for Live Coding (Utrecht, Netherlands). Born in Stockton, CA, Sara received her BA from Yale University in 2003 and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019. She currently teaches at VCUarts Department of Kinetic Imaging.
_________________________________
Acknowledgements:
We acknowledge funding from the NSF AccelNet award 2113978, from Virginia Commonweath University and the L.L. Stewart Faculty Fellowships through PRAx and Oregon State University’s Office of the Provost. We are grateful to the FLUXNET community council, FLUXNET outreach working group, and our partners at the PRAx center for facilitating this program.
Maoya Bassiouni (Residency Director, Outreach Working Group Chair, UC Berkeley)
Emma Reich (Residency Coordinator, Outreach Working Group Member, Northern Arizona University)
Robert Shortt (Residency Coordinator, Outreach Working Group Member, UC Berkeley)
Carly Lettero (Associate Director of Arts, Science, Humanities, and Technology Integration, PRAx)
Ashley Stull Meyers (Horning Chief Curator of Art, Science, and Technology, PRAx)
Kyle Delwiche (Deputy Director, FLUXNET Community Council, UC Berkeley)