We live in a time of overlapping crises. Every day, news headlines remind us of environmental destruction, social unrest, global exploitation, rising inequality, and war. Capitalist society continues to push forward, clinging to the promise of economic growth, while faith is placed in green technological innovations to save our planet from destruction. The situation resembles Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot (1953), where we, like Vladimir and Estragon, wait by the roadside, hoping that a single technological solution will somehow redeem the world. But as in the play, nothing happens. No all-encompassing, world-saving invention arrives to reverse the damage (Tanskanen & Kuoppa 2023, 222).
In this collection of essays, I seek to share my experiences and reflect on the challenges posed by the ecological crisis from the perspective of a new media artist and lighting designer. In Finland, where I have developed my practice, awareness of ecological challenges has grown significantly in recent years, driving the arts sector to increasingly seek sustainable methods. While the climate crisis affects the entire globe, and the primary responsibility for mitigating it lies in systemic change at the legislative level, I chose not to remain in passive anticipation like Beckett’s characters. Instead, I set out to explore how individuals can respond to these challenges at a personal and artistic level. My solution-oriented mindset cannot wait endlessly, as time is running out. How can art happen now, sustainably, while also creating new, lighter structures of operation? What kinds of performance and new media art emerge when we choose to consume less and consciously use fewer resources? How should artistic authorship be redefined to maintain both sustainability and meaning? Perhaps the revolution we are waiting for isn’t coming – it’s already here.
This project, Reorientations, was initiated in 2020, during the global COVID-19 pandemic that spread from wildlife markets in Wuhan (WHO 2021), China, to every corner of the globe, shutting down theatres, museums, and cultural spaces. Around the world, millions of cultural and art professionals faced unprecedented precarity, with many left without safety nets. The pandemic illuminated the deep vulnerabilities in the global arts sector, exposing the challenges of short-term contracts, funding gaps, and lack of institutional support (Meteli 2021; Bianchini & Simjanovska 2022).
While the pandemic took millions of lives and reshaped society, it also highlighted humanity’s profound interdependence. Global supply chains, particularly in the electronics industry, broke down, and the pandemic raised urgent questions about resilience and sustainability in our systems of production (Shih 2020). These disruptions mirrored the growing urgency of the climate crisis – a crisis exacerbated by the ongoing dependency on fossil fuels, as outlined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports (IPCC 2021). Despite brief moments of environmental respite during the pandemic (such as reduced air travel emissions), global habits quickly returned to pre-pandemic levels, once again accelerating environmental degradation (YLE 2022; Sutinen 2023, 248).
By August 2021, the IPCC published its sixth report, stating unequivocally that human-induced climate change, driven primarily by fossil fuel consumption, had already brought about significant, and in some cases, irreversible changes to the planet’s ecosystems, including the melting of glaciers and rising sea levels (IPCC 2021, 21). Further, a 2023 United Nations report confirmed that efforts to reduce global emissions had largely failed, with key goals of the Paris Climate Agreement unmet (UN 2023). As I write this, the Earth’s average temperature has risen above critical thresholds for the first time in recorded history, a dire warning scientists have been cautioning about for decades (Earth.com 2023; Helsingin Sanomat 2023).
In February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shook the world, underscoring the fragility of global energy security. European nations, including Finland, faced energy shortages and an urgent need to reassess their reliance on Russian fossil fuels. This sparked discussions across Europe about the future of the energy supply and sustainability, as governments scrambled to ensure energy sufficiency amid geopolitical conflict (Kuzemko, Blondeel, Dupont & Brisbois 2022).
These intersecting global crises create constant uncertainty, compounding the already precarious position of artists and cultural workers. For many of us, the past years have introduced a new level of instability, affecting our ability to work and create. In my own practice, I have witnessed how contracts have been weakened or outright cancelled, leaving lasting impacts on my profession and my creative process.
Instead of succumbing to paralysis, I chose to push through and complete unfinished works during the pandemic’s moments of reprieve. This decision came at a cost: in August 2020, I suffered a herniated disc, the result of years of physical and mental strain. This moment of physical collapse forced me to confront the unsustainable nature of my career – both physically and emotionally. Like many others, I had ignored my body’s signals for too long, driven by the demands of an inhumane work culture exacerbated by the ecological and pandemic crises.
At this crossroads, I had to reflect deeply on whether I could continue to work within the established norms of my field, particularly in performance processes, and if so, under what conditions. How could I redefine my practice to ensure sustainability, both in terms of my physical well-being and in light of the broader ecological crises surrounding us? Could I continue as a professional artist while adapting to a world that seems to be falling apart?
But what if the world isn’t ending? As the Finnish writer Ville-Juhani Sutinen aptly notes, “It is easy to proclaim the end of the world. Much harder is the task of learning to live amidst the ruins” (Sutinen 2023, 71). Sutinen’s observation brings us to the central question of this project: what does it mean to work as a lighting designer and new media artist in a world that is falling apart?
The term ‘eco-social’ rooted in the Greek word oikos (household) and logos (knowledge or study), refers to the intersection of human society and the environment. It suggests a deep interdependence, where human actions shape nature, and nature, in turn, shapes humanity. In eco-social thought, this interdependence emphasizes the importance of expanding social responsibility to include more-than-human entities, challenging the anthropocentric worldview (Pulkki, Varpanen & Mullen 2020; Sutinen 2023, 13).
How can ethical and ecological challenges be transformed into opportunities for creating new, sustainable practices in art? How can we, as artists, embrace lighter, more sustainable working methods, while fostering deeper engagement with the environmental and social contexts in which we operate?
In recent years, there has been a growing body of international literature on new materialism and sustainable practices in the performing arts. Tanja Beer’s Ecoscenography (2021), the ever-evolving Theatre Green Book (2021) project from the UK, and other works have provided valuable insights into creating more environmentally friendly productions in theatre and film. Alongside these international publications, there are also significant contributions from Finland. For example, the University of the Arts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy published Sustainable Choices – Potentials and Practices in Performance Design (2023), an anthology edited by Tomi Humalisto and Raisa Kilpeläinen, which explores multidisciplinary approaches to sustainability in performance design (Beer 2021; Buro Happold 2021; Humalisto & Kilpeläinen 2023).
Building on the ideas presented in both international and Finnish works, this project seeks to push these conversations further by exploring radical new approaches to sustainability in lighting design and new media arts. What if we abandoned traditional methods altogether? What if I refused to use lighting fixtures whose material origins are unknown, or staged performances without electricity? What if I ceased traveling altogether for work? These questions form the core of Reorientations, prompting us to rethink the very foundations of artistic production and explore how a more sustainable, eco-social approach might reshape the practice of performance and new media art. Can we rethink artistic production by consciously limiting our resource use, and if so, what new forms might emerge? What harmful dependencies could we sever in favour of more sustainable connections? Recognizing and confronting these challenges can feel uncomfortable, but I believe that it is precisely in these moments of ethical friction that we take steps toward a more eco-socially sustainable world.
In the first essay, I explore lighting design for contemporary performance by restricting the number of fixtures to what can fit into a backpack. How does this choice impact the artistic process and the logistics of touring? Additionally, I examine the material origins of LED lighting technology, and whether manufacturers can truly account for the origins of the minerals used in these fixtures. Where do broken LED fixtures end up? In the second essay, I focus on alternative light sources for the stage, as well as a public sound and light installation that utilizes existing infrastructure. The third essay explores stage lighting without electricity. The fourth examines the possibilities of international collaboration without travel, using Extended Reality (XR) technology. In the fifth essay, I reflect on dramaturgical work in multidisciplinary contexts close to the ecological crisis, aiming to expand the role of the performance designer. The final essay revisits my childhood landscapes, exploring the potential of powerful emotional experiences to reinvigorate our relationship with the environment.
I do not seek to offer moral directives in these essays but to share reflections that readers can engage with and critique through their own thinking. The materials and ideas presented in this project are freely available to anyone. I hope these texts and examples will inspire performance designers and media artists to further develop and evolve these concepts in their own work.
Sources
Beer, Tanja. 2021. Ecoscenography: An Introduction to Ecological Design for Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Becket, Samuel. 2009. En attendat Godot. Originally published in 1949. Stuttgart: Klett Sprachen GmbH.
Bianchini, Franco & Simjanovska, Violeta, eds. 2022. Reflections on Aspects of the Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on European Capitals of Culture. Helsinki: University of the Arts Helsinki, Sibelius Academy Research Report Publications. urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-329-269-7.
Buro Happold. 2021. “The Theatre Greenbook 1: Sustainable Productions.” (Version Beta.2 for Trialling). theatregreenbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/TGB_v2.pdf Accessed 16 October 2024.
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