Visual art as a tool to trigger behavioural change in the public - exploring the psychological mechanisms behind

Many artists have taken up climate change as a topic in their practice in recent years. With an art-based approach they attempt to communicate the topic with a new angle. The CLIMART project analysed the effects of climate change related artwork with psychological methods. The project collaborated with leading artists in the field and links climate science, art and psychology. The project consisted of three stages: 1) The existing landscape of climate change related art was mapped. 2) Visitors of climate related art exhibitions were surveyed with a combination of different methods. The effects of films produced in a climate communication summer school were analyzed. 3) Based on the previous two steps preliminary design recommendations were be formulated which then formed the basis of a dialogue between an artist working in the project and the scientists. In stage 1, a thorough literature review and an analysis of the landscape of climate art resulted in an overview paper. In stage 2, a number of studies were conducted: - Climart surveyed about 800 members of the audience at 35 different artworks presented during the Artcop 21 event in Paris connected to the climate summit. The analyses show that the artworks differed substantially in the emotional reponses they evoke and emotional responses are decisive for the climate change-behavior related motivations people have. - In a gallery in Brighton a specific exhibition was studied with a survey, interviews and eye-tracking. - The videos produced in the climate communication summer school were analysed. - an EEG study on climate change imagery was conducted and published, which shows that processing of pictures with or without climate change relation differed between people with weak or strong environmental concern. The results show that climate art seems to elicit emotional responses, which can be an important driver of the motivation to act, and that climate related art events appeal to a highly selected audience. In stage 3 of Climart, an artist became part of the project team and an artwork was jointly created: In spring 2016 an artist commission was awarded to Michael Pinsky, who is an artist working in the climate art field, after a selection process with more than 100 applicants from all over the world. He developed and discussed ideas for the project's artwork, which led to the installation "pollution pods" which was shown to the public in summer 2017 in Trondheim. More than 1500 visitors went to the pollution pods, about 2/3 of them answering a survey for the project. A smaller selection of them was interviewed in qualitative interviews. Also in this stage of the project emotional reaction in the audience were an important outcome of the art experience. At the same time it showed that this strong emotional activation can lead to to different outcomes, all from being stunned and unable to react, to negating the problem, or to being motivated to a more climate-friendly lifestyle. Recently, the pollution pods were displayed in Somerset House in London and additional data was collected. A world tour is currently in preparation.

The project addresses an important research gap in the domain of communication of climate change, namely which effects do climate change related art projects have on their audience, what are the psychological mechanisms behind these effects and how can cl imate art be an alternative communication approach to activate the general public to engage in and support climate change mitigation measures. Numerous climate art projects have been implemented around the world but very little is known about if they are effective, to which kind of audience they reach out to and what kind of processes they trigger in their audience. The project builds on results from a pre-project that suggests that visual climate art can trigger moments of reflection, has the potential t o reach to groups of the society that usually are less open to climate change communications, but needs to be carefully designed to avoid triggering responsibility denial. The project consists of three steps: (1) A systematic mapping of existing climate art projects, effect claims and evaluations that have been conducted. (2) A systematic qualitative and quantitative evaluation of one large climate art project and several smaller climate change communication short films that project partners produce. The effects will be linked to a psychological stage model of behaviour change, where the strongest effects of climate are expected for the transition between stage 1 ("not thinking the problem climate change") and stage 2 ("being aware and motivated to do so mething"). The effects will be evaluated separately for different target groups and types of emotional responses. Characteristics of the art pieces that create success are identified. (3) An art-science lab where the conclusions from step 2 will be implem ented and tested in two newly developed art/visual communication projects by project partners. The project draws on input from psychology, arts, communication and environmental science.