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Long abstract:

Scholars in the anthropology of knowledge and STS have analyzed and problematized in detail the effects of the climate budget regime on climate change knowledge and climate governance. Before that background, the transdisciplinary project “Pre-enacting climate change knowledge” (PECCK, 2022-2024) projected the demand of the Austrian Climate Referendum (2020) for a Climate Court of Audit and brought it into being as a real fiction.

https://klimarechnungshof.jetzt/

Consisting of a core group of anthropologist/sts researchers, curators, a designer and filmmaker we worked with a more or less consistent group of experts from administration, climate sciences and activism. In three workshops and five staged acts we appropriated well established institutional knowledge on auditing public finances and translated it into a real-fictional campaign for the creation of a climate court of audit. These acts were publicly filmed, edited and made public via social media and a real-fictional campaign homepage.

Besides presenting the audio-visual outcome of the project I propose to analyze the conditions for realizing an anticipatory format such as a real-fiction: 1) its potential to interact with other forms of knowledge in the “ecology of climate change knowledge” (Knox 2020). 2) the possibility to bundle interests and time 3) to experience an institution from within (in our case a museum), 4) to work with the performativity of audio-visual representation (in our case: film). And finally: 5) to appropriate existing institutional knowledge and turn it into counter- or activist knowledge.

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This research working paper and audio/video clips from our societal cocreators presents the findings so far on how our transdisciplinary team comprised of engineers, social scientists, educators, and materials scientists centred the voice of the community from the beginning of our funding application and research design through to now continuing the process of cocreation with the community through a Quadruple Helix (Carayannis & Campbell, 2009) and transdisciplinary (Wernli and Darbellay, 2016) approach. The Quadruple Helix framework attributes a robust, democratic knowledge and innovation ecosystem to the relations between Academia, Industry, State, and the public (Carayannis and Campbell, 2009).

Research Aims: Operating at the intersection of science, technology, society, and environmental catastrophe, our transdisciplinary research project aims to facilitate a just transition by focusing on enhancing community voice and involvement in the introduction of energy management software through the centring of a science-society collaboration (Delina and Sovacool, 2018; Lemos et al., 2018, Pohl et al., 2021; Vienni-Baptista et al., 2022).

Methodology: A combination of 45 semi-structured interviews alongside interactive engagement workshops and observation were conducted with stakeholders from community groups, industry, academia, and various government bodies, following an iterative research process (Hoffman et al., 2019).

Findings: The working paper, while outlining the findings from the various stakeholder engagement activities that were undertaken, reflexively illustrates the benefits that emerged from the activities themselves and some key learnings. While audio and video clips from some of our key stakeholders highlights the empowerment they have experienced so far in the research journey.

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Recently the value and role of culture in climate discourse has gained much deserved attention in politics and science. Last autumn the German Climate Alliance, representing 150 NGOs, issued a discussion paper, urging that, “as long as climate protection measures are not designed to be culturally sensitive, they can not be optimally effective. Valuable cultural resources remain unused.” This is even more true for the transformative challenges of climate adaptation and recovery.

So while awareness is growing for the necessity of culturally informed approaches in adaptation and recovery (Nunn 2019, Marks 2022, Sherpa 2022) there is a crucial lack of best case examples for practical implementation. Thus I created a network of cultural institutions in currently seven coastal metropolises worldwide to address adaptation challenges to sea level rise and land subsidence. Since 2024 the members are targeting urban front line communities in various socio-cultural and educational projects addressing issues like loss and grieve, displacement, tidal living and urban future scenarios. In three cities these will be accompanied and evaluated by social scientists in a research project called “Sinking Cities: Cultural Heritage as a transformational resource”

In this lecture I will outline the genesis of the network, it’s working methods, resources and goals, and explain how members are building alliances with science, city administration and activists. I will also offer glimpses into the openly accessible archive of cultural adaptation resources currently in the making.

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Household energy use is changing. Renewable and energy saving technologies become part of our homes. However, the energy and cost savings of these technologies are lower in reality compared to what is predicted in models. This is especially the case in low-income neighborhoods. There is a mismatch between resident’s energy practices and the technologies and models designed by professionals.

To understand and address this mismatch we investigate together with residents what energy is (not) for within their homes and how notions of justice are interwoven in everyday life. We approach residents not only as informants that report to researchers about their own practices, but foremost as inquirers themselves. This means the methods we use allow residents to raise questions, interpret, and evaluate knowledge and opinions. This way we stay away from paternalistic discussions of how energy in house should be used. To do so, we use a design method called ‘cultural probes’. Residents work with several artifacts, these artifacts embody questions. We included a camera, postcards, a floorplan, and a satirical future magazine. Unfortunately, I am unable to attach a picture. Residents used the kit on their own terms in their own time.

The working paper will include a discussion of the findings and method. As well as, the preliminary redesign of the artifacts. In its second iteration we plan to work together with neighbors to explore what energy is for, ex ante and ex post a renovation trajectory.

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Composer Daniel Dominguez Teruel currently works with citizens of Bremen on a requiem for the future sunken city. As sea level rise is threatening harbor cities around the world, communities have to prepare emotionally for future losses and the social and cultural disruptions that come with them. Songs have traditionally served as formats for communicating and dealing with sentiments of fear, loss and trauma all over the world. In a workshop Dominguez Teruel invites conference participants to work with and reflect on their own song heritage in relation to current climate adaptation challenges. Participants bring a song of their choice and collectively develop it’s potential for consolidation and solace and create a mini-requiem for our dissonant times. As part of the workshop, cultural researcher J.P. Possmann will furthermore discuss the role of cultural heritage in climate adaptation and introduce the international network for cultural climate adaptation POLI-SEA.