In this fourth episode of the Art, Science, Ecolgoy Podcast,season 2, Paula Toppila, Executive Director and Curator at IHME Helsinki, discusses Professor Felicity Fenner’s book Curating in a time of ecological crisis. Biennials as agents of change with the author. Felicity is Professor in the Master of Curating & Cultural Leadership programme, at UNSW Arts,Design & Architecture, Sydney. She is also Chair of the City of Sydney’s Public Art Advisory Panel and has a long career as a curator of international exhibitions.

In this podcast Felicity shares her experiences of and insights on curating art in public spaces, the evolution of environmental art exhibitions, and the impact of various art projects, including biennials. The conversation also covers the challenges of and approaches to reducing the environmental impact of art events.

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The contemporary-art-commissioning agency IHME Helsinki is continuing its collaboration with Helsinki Open Waves on new episodes of the Art, Science, Ecology podcast. The members of the IHME Helsinki Advisory Board are hosting its second season, carrying on discussions started in 2021. The new episodes update ideas about ecocide, sustainable energy, and energy identity, and about the role of the arts in all this, topics that are even more urgent today than in 2021.

IHME Helsinki unites the worlds of art, science, and climatework. We promote the cultural change needed in the environmental crisis and motivate citizens to adapt to a life within planetary boundaries. Each year we produce a public artwork and a series of events with international artists andlocal partners to bring hope amid the environmental crises. Our work is made possible by support from the Saastamoinen Foundation, Kone Foundation, and Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation.

Reading recommended in the podcast:

Prudence Gibson: The Plant Contract (2018), Brill: https://brill.com/display/title/35267

Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris: The Hydrocene. Eco-Aesthetics in the Age of Water (2024): https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003397304/hydrocene-bronwyn-bailey-charteris

Credits

Producer: Paula Toppila, Saara Moisio

Host and guests: Paula Toppila and Felicity Fenner

Sound technician: Bailey Polkinghorne

IHME jingle: Viljami Valdén