This interview forms part of a series of features on artists who participated in our ‘Together for Our Planet’ initiative. The ‘Together for Our Planet’ exhibition and publication is a collaboration between Occhi Arts and Entertainment and Phoenix FTA Limited, a UK-based sustainability strategy consultancy. Inspired by the UK Creative Earth Competition, Occhi Arts and Entertainment, and Phoenix FTA Limited invited artists from around the world to creatively engage with key topics of concern at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. The initiative provided artists with a renewed opportunity to visually express their views to world leaders and community stakeholders by producing 2D artwork. Wenwen Liu’s artwork involves data visualization, digital art, concept art, and games. Currently studying for a Ph.D. at Teesside University in the UK, Wenwen Liu’s research topic explores art, climate change, and future sustainable development. We had the pleasure of speaking to Wenwen about her research and exhibition entry on climate coding.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Arts & Entertainment. Congratulations on your career to date. For readers who are unfamiliar with you and your work, how were you introduced to the arts?
When I was a kid, I liked to draw some daily life items through lines and color patches. Later, after coming into contact with the works of Minimalism and Neoplasticism, I began to have a strong interest in art. For example, Red Square (1915) by Kazimir Severinovich Malevich opened the envisioned space of the work itself in the artistic concept, allowing audiences to independently participate in the construction of the work, thereby enhancing the unconscious communication between viewers and the work itself. Composition with red blue and yellow (1930) by Piet Cornelies Mondrian, takes geometry as the fundamental element of the painting, breaks away from the external form of nature, and pursues the whole realm of the unity of man and God. These works provide audiences with the complexity of experience through the simplicity of form, fully showing the concept of “less is more”. They give me space for wireless reverie and profoundly affect my artistic aesthetics.
What was the emotional drive in becoming an artist?
Before I engaged in visual arts and climate change research, I never thought of becoming an artist in the future. I thought I may become a teacher and engage in primary art education. But after three years of doctoral research, I found that art is a field full of infinite possibilities.
In the past, because of limiting or non-existent technologies, many essential works of our religion, art, literature, or politics presented their visions of the future in various forms. For example, the Christian belief establishes an afterlife consisting of idealized heaven and evil hell, Buddhism establishes a world to uncover the truth beyond the misery of life and death to relieve all difficulties and troubles, and Muslims follow and obey Allah, who creates all things in heaven and earth to achieve world peace. Contemporary, with the development of science and technology, human beings can point the future to the present. For example, some industrial countries have been developing hydrogen energy as the core of future power. Some non-profit organizations are committed to building sustainable communities based on human beings and the environment and thinking about the future green urban life. In a sense, whether in the past or now, people have been imagining all kinds of possibilities to get a better life.
As a powerful visual language, art can grasp the world through imagination, fantasy, and emotion to describe various possibilities of the future. For example, Phoneblocks by Dave Hakkens aimed to reduce electronic pollution and carbon emissions by changing people’s lifestyles and habits. It allows users to change the mobile phone hardware at any time. People can also insert custom devices into the mobile phone module to configure the phone they want, such as custom cameras and speakers. Alejandro Duran’s “Washed Up: Transforming a Trashed Landscape Series” uses debris floating with the ocean current to create a color-based, site-specific device that simulates the natural environment, such as algae roots, rivers, or fruits. Then he took pictures and created a surreal landscape with photos and objects. This work connects the real world with the virtual world and deeply discusses the impact of human activities on the earth’s ecology and the condemnation of consumerism. In other words, Artists use their distinctive artistic language to create a new way of understanding to explain ecological problems and promote the sustainable development of the environment and future life.
In a word, in the process of my doctoral research, my thoughts and ideas have changed. I believe that people can promote the realization of a better future through active intervention. Art is the best way for me to realize this idea. It can help me question and raise issues related to climate warming and explore solutions to sustainable development. This is the fundamental reason why I wanted to be an artist.
What attracted you to submit work for the ‘COP26: Together For Our Planet’ exhibition and publication?
‘COP26: Together For Our Planet’ is a very inclusive and innovative initiative. It invites visual workers to participate in the key themes of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow and creatively express their interpretation of the “post-ecological” economic system to world leaders and community stakeholders in a visual way. This concern is of great social significance, which will help more people understand climate change.
My research focuses on climate change and visual arts. I think this initiative provides an excellent stage to show my research outcomes. Therefore, I attempted to submit my work to the organizer to get the opportunity to participate in the exhibition. Fortunately, my work was selected successfully. I am very grateful and cherish this opportunity.
Please explain your exhibition entry ‘Climate Coding’ and how you felt during the creative process.
Due to the interference of early human activities, the Kubuqi Desert has degenerated from grassland to the seventh-largest desert in China. Although forest vegetation can reproduce without human interference, the harsh environment of the Kubuqi Desert has far exceeded the natural regulation ability, and the purpose of ecological restoration cannot be achieved through nature. Therefore, on the premise of respecting the local desert ecosystem, afforestation has become the primary way of ecological management of the Kubuqi Desert. After more than 30 years of efforts, local enterprises and residents have successfully afforested one-third of the Kubuqi Desert, prompting forest vegetation and other species to regain their living space. For this reason, the Kubuqi Desert ecology also provides people with valuable forest resources, economic sources, and food sources, forming a landscape of green and rich.
Figure 1: The Kubuqi Desert, China (2021)
Based on my visual research on climate change art and the ecological experience of the Kubuqi Desert, I decided to visualize the temperature data of the Kubuqi Desert from 1959 to 2020, telling a story of how to realize the future through people’s positive actions. Accordingly, through algorithm coding and an illusion engine, I designed digital media work: Climate Coding. Specifically, the temperature is usually displayed in digital form in daily life, but it can’t give people an intuitive feeling. Therefore, I visualize temperature data through color to enhance people’s emotions and feelings about climate change. Due to my ecological experience in the Kubuqi Desert, I believe it is necessary to find a space where all species can live together, which will help us cope with climate crises. Therefore, I created 774 rooms with the help of the Unreal Engine, which are arranged in the order of month to month and year to year. These rooms are lighted by different coloring lights obtained through algorithm coding, creating an atmosphere that reminds people of their living space. We all live in a space called Earth, we all live in a space called home, and we live in a space called room. After a busy day outside, we will finally return to our own space, where we relax and sleep. It will make us feel comfortable and safe. But in fact, this living space is composed of many things, such as organic life and an inorganic environment, to run the function of this space. Hence, I connected this work with the audience’s daily life to convey the concept of a community of life. Through this work, the audience can intuitively see the temperature change law of the Kubuqi Desert. They will find that the temperature of the Kubuqi Desert has not changed much in the past 62 years, mainly because the Kubuqi Desert Ecological restoration project is awakened under the premise of respecting the desert ecosystem. Therefore, it did not cause damage to the desert system. In general, in this work, I take a specific successful ecological restoration case as the research object and discuss the severe current climate problems and their profound consequences for the future development of humanity. The purpose is to find and create a discussion space, encouraging people to think and uncover a sustainable speculative future conducive to the survival of all.
Figure 2: The Kubuqi Desert Monthly Temperature Variation from 1959 to 2020 (2020) by Wenwen Liu
Figure 3: Climate Coding (2021) by Wenwen Liu
In this creative process, my happiest thing was when I went to the Kubuqi Desert for an ecological investigation. It is said that 32 years ago, the Kubuqi Desert was a dead sea without roads, water, electricity, transportation, and medical facilities. Due to the harsh desert environment, the life safety of residents has been seriously threatened, and the economic pressure is enormous. According to the research of the Chinese government, the annual income of the Kubuqi Desert residents was less than £50 at that time. Therefore, It is an urgent task to restore the ecosystem of Kubuqi Desert.
In the summer of 2020, I went to Kubuqi Desert. I felt like I had come to a resort full of vitality and vegetation everywhere. It wouldn’t feel too hot during the day and too cold at night. There were also many species of vegetation and many rare animals. In addition to investigating the ecological restoration process of the Kubuqi Desert, I experienced planting trees in the desert using traditional excavation and watering methods. Because more than 30 years ago, there were deserts everywhere, and the climate was terrible; Therefore, this kind of tree planting method was very difficult for sand control people at the beginning. However, due to the maturity of science and technology, local companies have developed many convenient tree planting methods to plant a tree. Therefore, this traditional tree planting method has evolved into an entertainment experience. I like this activity because it can offset my carbon emission. Also, it will always exist, from now to the future. Its whole life will not only fix carbon but also release a certain amount of oxygen to participate in global climate regulation. If most people join in these similar positive actions, I think it will bring significant changes and even affect the future. Through this ecological experience, I believe people can disturb the environmental environment through their efforts, make it develop in a better direction, and give feedback to human beings, even the next generations.
Figure 4: The Kubuqi Desert, Tree planting (2020) by Wenwen Liu
How will participating in the ‘Together For Our Planet’ initiative shape your creative practice moving forward?
I believe the ‘Together For Our Planet’ initiative significantly cultivates and shapes creative practice. It not only invites young artists to use their creativity to express their democratic voice but also encourages them to actively participate in global climate change politics and protect their cherished things from the impact of climate change.
I am very grateful that this initiative provided me with an opportunity to share my innovative practices. This is conducive to letting my works enter public cultural life and letting more people know about my creative practice. I’m glad to connect with the artworks of other visual workers and get some feedback from this exhibition. In the process of creative practice, we will encounter many problems, such as how to embody self-awareness through materials, and how art can create transformation in the physical space. An in-depth understanding of the creativity and ideas of other visual workers will help to provide inspiration and direction for my future innovative practice.
What projects are you currently working on?
As mentioned above, my doctoral research is about visual art and climate change. The purpose is to find a way to create a visual language as a framework to deal with climate issues and promote a positive, sustainable and speculative future through artistic practice. Based on this, my subsequent projects are also carried out in this direction. My current project focuses on telling the story of climate change, humans, and the natural environment from the victims’ perspective. Specifically, I use artistic means to transform those urban environments that are deeply affected by climate change but are not noticed by people into different series of climate stories, let them sue humans as victims, arouse people to think about the relationship between climate change and their behavior, and encourage people to take positive action.
For further information on the artist and the COP26: Together For Our Planet exhibition, visit the Occhi Contemporary Art website
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