Reimagining heritage and museums for the climate emergency

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The last few decades have witnessed the declaration of a series of interlinked ecological and cultural crises which have had (and continue to have) a fundamental impact on the planet and its human and non-human occupants alike. This talk presents a number of recent international collaborative research projects which aim to explore the ways in which the cultural sector might support action for climate empowerment and (just) green energy transitions. These projects have been characterised by collaborative partnerships with museums and heritage sector organisations and their publics which have sought to intervene not only critically, but also practically in the role of natural and cultural heritage preservation within these contemporary crises of climate, extinction and social justice. They have done so by engaging organisations and publics as co-researchers in the research process and in aiming to rethink the practical role of heritage and museums in (re)imagining and (re)building more sustainable and just futures.

Rodney Harrison (Professor of Heritage Studies, University College London), Colin Sterling (Associate Professor of Heritage and Museum Studies, University of Amsterdam), Janna Oud-Ammerveld (Postdoctoral Research Associate, Utrecht University) and David Francis (Postdoctoral Research Associate, University College London).

Image: Reimagining Museums for Climate Action Exhibition at the COP26 Green Zone, November 2021. Courtesy Glasgow Science Centre. Photographs by…