Our world is becoming a warmer world. Climate change poses great risk to natural and social systems, and both people and other species are vulnerable. Dealing with it as a technical problem that can be addressed through greater knowledge, innovation and expertise, has not been able to lead to substantial changes and collective action. I believe that addressing a complex challenge such as climate change requires an integrative approach, one that reconnects body and mind, that fuses art and science and that integrates diverse forms of knowledge in an open, collaborative and creative way.
Art and creative practices have the potential to challenge current thinking on climate change presenting new ways of approaching complex problems. Artists are often at the forefront of innovation for the novel ways of addressing problems, free from disciplinary constraints. Art has the capacity to not only raise awareness but also to use creativity in addressing complex issues, support reflexivity and act as a conduit for cultural renewal. Creative ways of integrating the practical, personal and political dimensions of climate change may contribute to more successful adaptation.
Transformations to sustainability involve changes on individual and collective levels. This means to address climate change is also linked to beliefs, values, worldviews and paradigms. Art can contribute to alternative perspectives on adaptation through eliciting values, beliefs and worldviews about climate change and challenging them. This can raise awareness and provoke community action.
Based on the recognition that fundamental social change is needed to address the climate challenge, how can art challenge the root causes of climate change, the shared beliefs and worldviews that keep the system in place? And how can art contribute to sustainable transformation triggering changes at the personal, cultural, institutional and systems levels?
These and other questions will be explored within project ART FOR ADAPTATION. ART FOR ADAPTATION is a six-year postdoc project, financed by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (SFRH/BPD/115656/2016). During this period it will develop innovative research on the relationship between art and climate change adaptation and transformation, based on the assumption that successful adaptation occurs through processes of transformation.
My name is Julia Bentz. Welcome to my project page!
ART FOR ADAPTATION 
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