Ecology and Sustainability Beyond the Museum Walls

with Tabita Rezaire and Hans Ulrich Obrist

The sixth episode brought together artist-seeker-farmer Tabita Rezaire and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London, who collaborated as part of the 2022 exhibition ‘Back to Earth’, which questioned how art can respond to the climate emergency. This conversation explored how artists and museum practitioners can utilize ecological practices and meditations, from the corporeal to the technological, within the museum and beyond its walls. 

Representing and Implementing Alternative Futures

with Josh Kline and Johanna Burton

The fifth episode brought together artist Josh Kline and Johanna Burton, The Maurice Marciano Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, for a conversation that took into account the distinct experiences and perspectives of artist and facilitator. Kline’s practice uses immersive installations of video, sculpture, photography, and design to explore today’s most urgent social and political issues, interlinking climate change, automation, disease, and the weakening of democracy.

MOCA is the first major art museum in the United States to establish an Environmental Council, which works alongside MOCA staff to embed environmental consideration into all aspects of museum operations. As Burton discussed, MOCA is also centering climate in its public programs and exhibitions, including a landmark 2024 exhibition focused on Josh Kline's Climate Change cycle.

This discussion included Kline and Burton’s aspirations for their future projects, presenting the audience with insight into their collaboration and production processes.

The Journey to Sustainability Onsite

with Olafur Eliasson and Yuko Hasegawa

The fourth episode brought together artist Olafur Eliasson and curator Yuko Hasegawa to revisit their collaboration on the exhibition Sometimes the river is the bridge at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2020. Having approached the project as a pilot for ‘sustainable exhibition making, the exhibition resulted in displays of artworks powered by solar panels and recorded drawings of their low-emission transport journey from Berlin to Tokyo. This conversation revisited the challenges and successes of a pilot and unfolded upon its learnings for sustainable artistic and curatorial practices today.

Systematic Designs to Tackle Waste and Maximize Building Efficiency

with Lana Hum, Eliana Glicklich-Cohn, and Jason Smith

The third episode brought us to The Museum of Modern Art to discuss the topic of developing systematic designs to be more sustainable across the Museum. We heard from MoMA’s director of exhibition design and production, Lana Hum, about her approach to waste reduction during the exhibition design process, and from Jason Smith and Eliana Glicklich-Cohn, senior managers of sustainability, about how they have implemented strategies and measurements to minimize the museum’s operational waste, energy usage, and carbon footprint.

Exploring Sustainability through Experimentation

with Jeppe Hein and Gitte Ørskou

The second episode brought together artist Jeppe Hein and Gitte Ørskou, Director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Expanding upon their collaboration on the 2022 exhibition “Jeppe Hein: Who are you really?”, which was produced entirely without shipping works to the museum and instead focused on interactions between the building, collection, and its visitors, this conversation explored how co-experimentation between artist and museum can act as a catalyst for shifting towards sustainable and circular exhibition production.

Ways of Collecting and Commissioning

with Tino Sehgal and Frances Morris

The first episode brought together artist Tino Sehgal and Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, to reflect on how the artist and the institution have each incorporated environmental considerations into the processes of collecting and commissioning. As spaces in service of both present and future publics, how can our museums utilize these practices to foster sustainability in our global society?

Carson Chan is the inaugural director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment, and a curator in MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design. He develops, leads, and implements the Ambasz Institute’s manifold research initiatives through a range of programs, including exhibitions, public lectures, conferences, seminars, and publications. Before joining MoMA in 2021, he worked as an architecture writer, curator, and educator.

In 2006 he cofounded PROGRAM, a project space and residency program in Berlin that tested the disciplinary boundaries of architecture through exhibition making. Chan co-curated the 4th Marrakech Biennale in 2012, and the year after he served as executive curator of the Biennial of the Americas in Denver. He holds a bachelor of architecture degree from Cornell University and a master’s of design studies from Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Luise Faurschou is founder and CEO of ART 2030, a nonprofit organization uniting art and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Global Goals. By combining the universal language of art with the Global Goals, ART 2030 promotes peace, equality, and a healthy world for 2030. Joined by visionaries from the art world, ART 2030 works to create art projects, platforms, and experiences for everyone to engage with the Global Goals—the plan for people, planet, and prosperity.

Faurschou is also a curator, cultural entrepreneur, and the founding director of Faurschou Art Resources. With over 30 years of experience in the art industry, Faurschou has worked with an array of world-renowned artists, including Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Bruce Naumann, Ai Weiwei, and others.