Best Sustainable Art Exhibitions in London

BEST SUSTAINABLE EXHIBITIONS IN LONDON

OUR BROKEN PLANET
Natural History Museum
Until late summer 2022

Our Broken Planet highlights the fact we are in a climate emergency, asking visitors to continue to question our current relationship with the natural world. It showcases over 40 projects selected by museum scientists offering a variety of interesting and educational sources. Not to mention it is free to enter when booked in advance – making climate education accessible to the masses.

There are three different themes showcased throughout the year (all kept on until 2022), each focused on a different part of climate change.

Eating the Earth

This section comments on how the diets of the world’s richest nations are the most harmful to our planet. How can we change our diets to have less of an impact on our world and reduce the strain on our resources?

Nature for Sale

All resources start off as natural: the metal in our phones and the materials that make up our clothes. How have these natural materials been turned into harmful matter that take decades to biodegrade? Is it time to rethink the materials we are using?

Climate Emergency 

Focused on the devastating damage of burning fossil fuels, causing icebergs to melt, outbreaks of forest fires, and sea levels to rise. What needs to be done to make our planet greener and control the rapid damage of fossil fuels?

If you are unable to visit in person, the National Science Museum website has lots of useful resources to aid you on your journey to living a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Ranging from tips on how to avoid fast fashion on a budget and the possibility of lab-grown meat. Educate yourself and your friends by having a look online.

WASTE AGE
Design Museum
Until 20th of February 2022

If you get the chance, go and see this design exhibition before it ends on the 20th of February 2022. It questions whether design can solve the problem of waste, exploring how we can change our relationship with waste and everyday objects to give them multiple lives, rather than throwing them away. Circular design is the way forward.

The exhibition features work from some incredible designers who are redefining our relationship with waste through innovative solution design: including Formafantasma, Stella McCartney, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Lacaton & Vassal, Fernando Laposse, Bethany Williams, Phoebe English and Natsai Audrey Chieza.

The exhibition features a large-scale art installation by Ibrahim Mahama made from e-waste in Ghana – it’s worth a visit to open your mind on the possibilities of what can be done with waste.

BACK TO EARTH
Serpentine
Ongoing 

Back to Earth doesn’t shy away from the complex web of issues within the climate crisis. Featuring work from over 60 artists, this exhibition takes place onsite and online, featuring a variety of campaigns and helpful resources to help make a difference. The website describes the exhibition as ‘a complex web of interconnected research, interventions and activities’ designed to question our existing ecosystems, and ask what we can do to adapt them to fit our ever-changing complex needs. Using complex ideas to solve complex problems, this exhibition will open your mind to the vast possibilities of collaboration when it comes to climate change action.

Featuring work form: Maria Thereza Alves, David Adjaye, Etel Adnan, Black Quantum Futurism, James Bridle, Carolina Caycedo, Judy Chicago, Revital Cohen & Tuur van Balen, Cooking Sections, Agnes Denes, Manthia Diawara, Jimmie Durham, Torkwase Dyson, Olafur Eliasson, Brian Eno, Jane Fonda, Formafantasma, Fernando García-Dory/INLAND, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Macarena Gómez-Barris, Jack Halberstam, Katharine Hamnett, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Bhanu Kapil, Karrabing Film Collective & many more talented artists.

BEING HUMAN
Wellcome Collection
Ongoing 

What does it mean to be human in the 21st century? Visit this exhibition to delve deeper into the question of our existence on earth. Exploring everything from our medical knowledge, our fears for the future, and how our brains work, this exhibition is filled with art to make you think. It is divided into four sections: Genetics, Minds & Bodies, Infection, and Environmental Breakdown. Each section explores a different part of what it means to be human in our current society.

The environmental breakdown section focuses on climate change, featuring works from Superflex and Yinka Shonibare. It is a refreshing and insightful exhibition, offering a glimpse of what the future of sustainable exhibitions may look like.

LIVES AT SEA
National Maritime Museum
Ends 31st of March 2022

Compared to the earth, humans have explored a very small amount of the ocean. Its creatures are mysterious and unknown to many of us, yet they play a surprisingly large role in our lives. Food, transport, and energy resources are all greatly impacted by sea life. Visit this exhibition to uncover the secrets of the sea and learn how crucial it is to our existence.

Featuring photographs from Dr. Jennifer, a conservation photographer sharing her stunning underwater snapshots, and Octavio Aburto’s extraordinary photographs of coastal ecosystems. This exhibition is a wake-up call to those not aware of how important it is to protect our oceans, not just to benefit sea life, but our own lives too.

As the climate crisis becomes more prominent, we have no option but to educate ourselves. We need to come up with solutions to problems and encourage ourselves and others to enact change by making those solutions part of our day to day lives. Visiting exhibitions is a great way to open our minds to the possibilities of climate action, and understand the true extent of the damage being done to our world.

 + Words:
Florenne Earle Ledger
Luxiders Magazine