Waste Futures Art and Science Labs
Exploring new ways to imagine waste cultures as a force for positive change in the context of climate change / environmental crisis.
Waste Futures Arts and Science Labs are a curated programme of arts and creative based activities that will happen across England and Scotland in 2026_2027.
We hope this project will work closely with local stakeholders and communities (both human and other than human) and complement the wide range of existing environmental protection and adaptation activity already present across each location we work within.
We understand that not all knowledge and experience comes from formal work or is generated through traditional research in formal institutions alone. So, we are keen to foster inclusive relationships and between the RACC research team (made up of scientists, artists, curators, policy experts and sector specialists), coastal stakeholders, policy makers, activists, creatives and local human and other than human communities living on, near or access affected sites of interest.
We are experimenting with new ways that art and creativity can support communities to build resilience and understanding of the combined impact of human waste cultures and coastal erosion on our dynamic coastline and social ecosystems. In doing so, we hope to build confidence within communities by exploring how our value systems inform our choices and behaviours when it comes to environmental stewardship and positive action.
We will experiment with artists working across diverse artforms, scientists and sector specialists to help support communities who live and access affected places, to interpret and respond to RACC scientific findings on their own terms. This will, in turn help us collectively imagine what a well-adapted and resilient world looks like.
Resilience of Anthropocene Coasts and Communities (RACC)
Main academic partners: Queen Mary University of London, University of Glasgow, University of Bradford, King's College London, University of Sunderland.
RACC seeks to assess the impact of coastal erosion and pollution release from historic coastal landfills on communities and habitats, and to co-develop policy and practical interventions with stakeholders. Further details of the project can be found here and here.
RACC is part of the wider COAST-R network.
Questions that underpin Waste Futures Art and Science Labs
The questions that drive our Waste Futures Art and Science Labs are:
How might creative practices offer novel or generative ways of engaging and living with the complexities, contradictions, and sometimes unresolvable ‘wicked problems’ of waste legacies in the context of climate change?
How can creative practices support understanding and learning about our relationship to waste in the context of climate change and the environmental crisis?
How can creative practices help communities at risk imagine regenerative, well-adapted and resilient worlds?
