Vital Signs: Another World is Possible
Written by: Anya Duncan
Unlike previous climate-based presentations, this selection of art aims to invite pause from its audience. It is during this solitary intake of breath that the future can be imagined; one where we are all living more eco-conscious lives.
Instead of a terminal diagnosis, these artists, designers, scientists, and researchers use eleven multimedia installations to explore how people are shaping liveable futures in a world increasingly affected by the human footprint. There is no scaremongering found here. Just a realistic investigation into how we can all prepare for a more hopeful future.
On the 12th of November, I was invited to tour Science Gallery London’s newest exhibit (developed as part of King’s Culture at King’s College London), named Vital Signs: Another World is Possible. The subject of this exhibition is well known to most. It’s a ghost that sits among us at the dining table, or a shadow shaped by the smoke from a car’s exhaust.
Climate change has been a fatal truth of the twenty-first century—one that Science Gallery London wants to present in a frame absent of the topic’s usual fatalism.
During an exhibition that sits at the confluence of art and science, I Sing the Spirit Fantastic uses both to create “an unleashing of innocence, imagination, and a new century of inventions.” Created by Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey alongside poet Sir Ben Okri, two large hangings made from grass seedlings decorate the gallery walls. Ackroyd and Harvey have developed their scientific method of manipulating light to imprint letters in living grass over twenty years. The result: large monuments of nature’s delicacy that display words from Sir Ben Okri’s chosen poem. Speaking to Original Magazine, Heather Ackroyd explained the origins of this unusual art form:
“I am in service to whatever these little seeds do or don’t do. It was a chance discovery, leaving a ladder against a window. We took the ladder away and saw the yellow [grass], but we didn’t really understand exactly what we were seeing. Then we began to work and work and work at it.”
First discovered in 1990, the shadow of the ladder most closely replicated the letter H. For Heather Ackroyd, this imperfection in the grass called specific to her, and became the origin of her art and further study. Over the coming decades, this initial accident was replicated over and over again until she and Dan Harvey could consistently manipulate the colour of fresh grass.
By withholding light from growing seeds, some parts wither to a pale yellow in contrast to the luscious green we expect from nature, showing the dichotomy between a world that takes and one that gives.
This understanding of worldly balance is well known to Sir Ben Okri, who has spent years dedicating his writing to climate activism. A believer in the power of interdisciplinary creativity, Sir Ben Okri spoke to the magazine about the importance of collaboration in the fight for our planet:
“These are times when we need the full collaborative spirit of humanity to overcome the massive climate challenge ahead of us. Art, science, and poetry have great roles to play. It’s about choice. Picking the right words.”
Alongside I Sing the Spirit Fantastic, the Vital Signs exhibit explores humanity’s relationship with health and nature through various perspectives on the urgent climate crisis. Upon ascending the stairs of the Science Gallery, I was met with the Living Library, a project created in collaboration with over sixty designers, artists, writers, and young people from the local community to express their varied responses to climate action.
A wall in this Living Library is dedicated to a set of intricate Tarot cards that bring together artists from around the world. Each card displays a role any of us can play in the climate crisis, while nearby chairs painted with thermo-paint ensure that the human body’s impact on its environment is never forgotten.
Across the staircase is a sensory oasis filled with Birungi Kawooya’s cloth pyramids, named Resistance and Renewal, where rest and repair become acts which protest modern capitalist culture and white supremacy. Beside this is Cathy Mager’s Night Bloom, which uses metaphors of biodiversity to reflect the systemic discrimination faced by the deaf community, employing photo projections, signs drawn from Visual Vernacular as well as traditional Chinese Sign Language, and improvised dance performances.
Gayle Chong Kwan’s work, I Am the Thames and The Thames is Me, uses patterns made from Thames waste, urine, and mud to create eight garments resembling mythical river guardians. They stand as totems to Chong Kwan’s wider passion for political action, research into human waste, trans-historical studies, and Indigenous perspectives. Speaking about her project (which also features a fantastical map of the Thames), Gayle explained that she wants to encourage reflection about the waste we all create. In her words:
“We are in the river and of the river, at a time when pollution in the Thames is again a major issue.”
In a thoughtful pause from fearful discussions about the climate, Vital Signs: Another World is Possible brings together the hope of researchers, artists, and local communities in London. While the exhibitions aren’t without some utterly terrifying truths, the message of hope embedded into this project has been realised spectacularly in a two-storey ode to a more sustainable, conscious future.
This collection is free to the public, and I recommend anybody interested in art, culture, and our planet take the time to explore what creatives around the world have to say about the future.
Birungi Kawooya, A Space for Resistance and Renewal, Vital Signs, Science Gallery London, George Torode Photography
A Space for Resistance and Renewal, Birungi Kawooya, Vital Signs, Science Gallery London
'I am the River and the River is Me', work in progress, photo by Gayle Chong Kwan
Detail, I am the Thames and the Thames is Me, Gayle Chong Kwan, Science Gallery London, Vital Signs, George Torode
I am the Thames and the Thames is Me, Gayle Chong Kwan, Science Gallery London, Vital Signs, George Torode
Emma Critchley, Rights of the Deep, Vital Signs, Science Gallery London George Torode Photography
Gayle Chong Kwan, I am the Thames and the Thames is Me Vital Signs, Science Gallery London George Torode
Louise Mackenzie, Shit Happens, Vital Signs, Science Gallery London, George Torode Photography
Night Bloom - Vital Signs, Science Gallery London George Torode Photography