Imaginaries, Storytelling & Heritage in the Climate Crisis
What is the role of heritage in the face of the climate crisis? How can we use storytelling to further environmental sustainability? Earlier this year Sound & Vision hosted the Dutch New European Bauhaus Community Gathering to unpack these questions and more. The central theme of the afternoon - radical imaginaries, bold storytelling & transformative heritage in the climate crisis.
What is the role of heritage in the face of the climate crisis? How can we use storytelling to further environmental sustainability? Earlier this year Sound & Vision hosted the Dutch New European Bauhaus Community Gathering to unpack these questions and more. The central theme of the afternoon - radical imaginaries, bold storytelling & transformative heritage in the climate crisis.
As someone who had just started working at Sound & Vision, I had not heard of New European Bauhaus before. Learning more about it, I was immediately intrigued. New European Bauhaus (NEB) is a creative and interdisciplinary initiative that aims to integrate sustainability, aesthetics and inclusivity. Inspired by the historical Bauhaus movement, NEB seeks to reimagine our relationship with the environment through participatory and interdisciplinary approaches. Think of community-driven neighbourhood garden projects that revitalise our relationship with local produce or projects utilising art and storytelling as a means to enhance a community's legacy and future. NEB brings the European Green Deal towards us and calls for a collective effort to create and build a future that’s sustainable, inclusive and beautiful.
Storytelling
So why did Sound & Vision join the NEB movement? As a media institute, we recognise that storytelling plays a critical role in shaping our understanding and acceptance of the climate crisis. The climate emergency is such a broad global topic that often it is difficult to relate to it on a local, personal level. In the collective imagination it is more often associated with the future (just think of dystopian depictions in the far away future such as the movie Mad Max) rather than something that we need to face in the present. That’s why we’re eager to explore how storytelling techniques that use cultural heritage to connect past, present and future can help us create a more localised, present-based and personal understanding of the climate crisis.
NEB Dialogen
The NEB Community Gathering invited organisations associated with the movement to join the conversations on storytelling, imaginaries and heritage. The room was filled with participants from educational institutions, museums, libraries and governmental institutions such as municipalities.
Rasa Bočytė from Sound & Vision kicked off the event by unpacking the NEB pillars of Sustainable, Beautiful and Together. She engaged her Sound & Vision colleagues Kelly Hazejager, Monique Groot and Johan Oomen to reflect on the relation between NEB and archival organisations. They discussed examples of climate-related misinformation about young people using TikTok data (in Dutch), community participation in rethinking the functions of heritage organisations and the importance of including a diverse range of voices in the archive (in Dutch).
Voices Shaping Tomorrow
We invited a range of speakers who all use heritage and culture in different ways to catalyse climate conversations and action:
- Federica Colombo, Education Research Officer at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, delved into the CrAFt project that uses arts and culture to engage local communities in the transformation of their neighbourhoods and cities towards climate neutrality. Marijn van der Eyden, an artist residing in the Sluisbuurt pilot project for the past five years, shared her story of becoming a community archivist, documenting the changing neighbourhood and engaging in conversations about its future. The participants were particularly moved by a video Marijn showed of her work.
- Researcher Eline van den Wildenberg from TU Delft introduced the EKIP project, a Horizon Europe initiative that aims to be an accelerator of culture and creativity driven innovation policies and innovation ecosystems in Europe. NEB is one of the 13 policy themes EKIP will address. Eline's presentation posed thought-provoking questions, encouraging attendees to think about the contribution of diverse cultural and creative industry players - from heritage organisations and performing arts to gaming industry and design sector - towards the NEB goals.
‘How do you see your role and the role of Cultural and Creatives in the green transition?’ - question asked by Eline van den Wildenberg
- Designer and digital researcher Carlo de Gaetano from the Hogeschool van Amsterdam closed the event with a creative workshop titled ‘It happened tomorrow’ which is part of the Climate Imaginaries at Sea project. Participants used cultural heritage collections as a starting point to imagine how their local environments will be affected by the rising sea levels and what kind of adaptation scenarios are possible. The session invited us to practise collective storytelling and creative narratives that unpack our relationship with the climate crisis.
NEB Principles in Action
As the gathering unfolded, it became evident that the NEB principles - Sustainable, Beautiful, Together - were not mere abstract concepts but catalysts for real-world projects and initiatives, driving positive change at the intersection of culture, creativity, and sustainability. The gathering served as a reminder that the exchange of ideas and perspectives is crucial for propelling local NEB initiatives forward.
For those keen on staying up-to-date about the latest developments and initiatives within New European Bauhaus, I encourage you to register for the newsletter. Let’s look forward to more enriching conversations and collaborative efforts on the horizon!