CLIMATE TRUTH CRISIS: EMPOWERING YOUNG DESIGNERS FOR FUTURE DEMOCRACIES
The project brings together students and staff from seven art and design academies in The Hague, Reykjavík, Barcelona, London, Vilnius, Tallinn, and Sarajevo to explore the impact of climate change denial and disinformation on democratic society. The initiative specifically focuses on how to empower young visual communication students to assess climate-related news and visualize the spread of disinformation.
The project utilizes infographics, videos, and visual storytelling to engage the public in understanding the influence of industrial lobbying, greenwashing, conspiracy theories, and social media bots on democratic processes.
The leading research question is: If democracy requires that voters are well-informed to make political choices, how can visual communication engage people in serious issues and help them distinguish news from fake news to effectively drive sustainable change?
Climate change skepticism has taken various forms, ranging from scientific articles expressing uncertainty to the spread of disinformation on social media and the so-called “denial machine” (Dunlap 2013). Particularly, forces backed by industry and right-wing think
tanks have launched campaigns to create uncertainty regarding the facts and impacts of climate change.
Visual tools for knowledge production and explanation are commonly used in the sciences but are often overlooked or considered merely cosmetic (Galison 2002). Visual communication design is a specialized field with expertise and a growing knowledge base on the use, misuse, and cognitive effects of visual information display. Additionally, visual storytelling offers opportunities for emotional engagement through subjective exploration. In a shared dialogue, visual communication designers can create narratives that transform abstract concepts into personal experiences while fostering empathetic discussions about societal challenges.
Project Partners:
ALU Academy of Fine Arts Sarajevo
EKA Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn
ELISAVA, University VIC Barcelona
IUA Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavík
KABK Royal Academy of Art /University of the Arts The Hague
UAL University of the Arts London
VDA Vilnius Academy of Arts
ELIA European League of Institutes of Arts, Amsterdam
Project Period: 2024–2026
Funding: Erasmus+ KA2
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Between 12-14 February 2025, the educational partners of Climate Truth Crisis met for the Teacher Training Activity hosted by UAL in London. Teachers from Vilnius Academy of Arts, University of the Arts London, ELISAVA, Iceland University of the Arts, Royal Academy of Arts (KABK), Estonian Academy of Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts Sarajevo gathered to explore and discuss pedagogical strategies in the age of climate disinformation. How do we navigate the social media space transformed by disinformation? How might vision science help designers understand how to better communicate visually with climate skeptics? Is it even possible to change someone’s opinion on climate? How do we find and evaluate reliable sources when it comes to climate-related information? And how might we hold our own institutions accountable?
The three-day program explored:
teaching methods for classifying types of climate disinformation,
research methods for finding points for intervention in complex problems and
testing the creative limits of fake news.
Expert speakers gave overviews of their respective fields:
social media analytics (Dr Felipe Soares, LCC University of the Arts London),
vision science (Prof Simon Rushton, Cardiff University),
investigative journalism (Juliet Ferguson, Centre for Investigative Journalism),
climate activism (David Cross, CCW, University of the Arts London).
Professor Audrius Klimas and Associate professor Sigitas Gužauskas took part at he event.
