Arctic climate challenges and resilience interpreted by design students

Research on global warming and its impact on Arctic ecosystems and communities is brought to the forefront in a collaboration between students at Beckmans College of Design, researchers at the Beijer Institute and its partners, and design firm Svenskt Tenn.

In the exhibition What Happens In the Arctic Does Not Stay In the Arctic, held from April 25 to May 4 at the Svenskt Tenn store in Stockholm, seven works are presented, offering new perspectives on current research.

The temperature in the Arctic is now rising three to four times faster than the global average, and large ice sheets are melting both on land and at sea. Climate change in the Arctic not only affects global climate, it also severely impacts the ecosystems and local populations in the region. Many Arctic communities are already having to adapt to the rapid changes. Perhaps there are important lessons for humanity as a whole to learn from how they are dealing with this new reality.

About the collaboration

Since 2017, students from the second year of the Visual Communication program at Beckmans College of Design have been collaborating with researchers at the Beijer Institute and its partners, as well as staff at Svenskt Tenn.  The students were given lectures and and tutoring from researchers, and with guidance from the researchers and their design teachers they created a visual works that are displayed in an exhibition at Svenskt Tenn. The collaboration aims to develop new ways to communicate research, conveying knowledge both rationally and emotionally.

“The collaboration with the students has been incredibly rewarding. It’s exciting to see how our research results inspire works of art that evoke emotions in the viewer”, says Anne-Sophie Crépin, deputy director of the Beijer Institute, who participated in the project.

Illustrating change in ecological and social systems

The works include a carpet shaped like a shoreline, emphasizing the role of the Little Auk bird as an ecological engineer. The birds transport nutrients from the marine environment to land, fertilizing otherwise barren areas with its droppings. Another piece uses mirrors to explore the albedo effect, illustrating how snow and ice reflect sunlight and help cool the Earth, while one group has created a board game that explores the journey of stepping outside one’s comfort zone, symbolizing a step toward the change that is needed.

The design firm Svenskt Tenn is owned by the Beijer Foundation which in turn provides the core funding for the Beijer Institute, and other research institutions. To create awareness of the world-leading research conducted, Svenskt Tenn initiated a collaboration between Beckmans and the Beijer Institute in 2017.

For us at the company, this represents an inspiring exhibition format, which has over the years also gained attention in various contexts, both in Sweden and internationally”, says Thommy Bindefeld, senior advisor at Svenskt Tenn.

Exhibition webpage

Participating researchers:

Anne-Sophie Crépin – Beijer Institute
Juan C. Rocha – Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholms University
Caroline Schill – Beijer Institute
Henrik Österblom – The Anthropocene Laboratory, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences