The Living Library
The air we breathe, the food we eat and the land we live on are vital to human survival. Although the Earth’s climate has changed throughout time, scientific research shows that recent, more drastic changes result from human activity. Natural habitats are being devastated by these changes. Legacies of exploitation and inequality have played a role in creating the crisis, and continue to load the worst health and socioeconomic impacts on vulnerable communities. But there is still hope. Inspired by the ways some communities are responding to the challenges we face, we can build a society based on closer connections to the more-than-human world.
Our Living Library includes contributions from artists, researchers, King’s students and community knowledge holders. Interactive projects celebrate new ways of thinking and being and invite us to imagine a society in which local communities, researchers, artists, activists and policy makers work together to restore planetary and environmental health.
The Living Library Collection reflects on the historical actions and injustices that have led to the current climate crisis and explores diverse solutions to build a climate-resilient world, based on solidarity and collective action. It will be regularly reviewed and updated throughout the exhibition to include new works.
What changes can we make in our daily lives to fight the climate crisis? How can we cope with eco-anxiety, and care for one another in a time of crisis? How is research at King’s College London grappling with the depth and complexity of the climate crisis? Science Gallery London’s diverse community of scientists, activists, students and artists share their experiences of how climate change has impacted them and their communities, and reflect on the hope which sustains their work, in our Library Reels.
The Living Library includes the following projects: Rights of the Deep (Emma Critchley and collaborators), NatureBoost (Andrea Mechelli and Michael Smythe), Weather Memories (George Adamson, Jessica Rapson and Anna Woodham), Taio Tarot (Imogen Malpas), re:pig (Ekaterina Gladkova and Naho Matsuda), Turning up the Heat? (Amna Asif, Leah Brown and Huong Anh Trinh with Angela YT Chan and Good Studio), Sh*t Happens! zine (Louise Mackenzie), Feeling the Heat? (Hopeful Futures with Good Studio), Library Reels.
