Stine Marie Jacobsen's project 'Future, Before it Happens', devised with children from St Anne's Catholic Primary School, focuses on the wellbeing of young people in relation to the climate crisis.
What if we adjusted our perspective to rethink our understanding of the natural world and the climate crisis? As we continue to live through difficult times and significant global events, how can we harness our collective power to imagine and transform our shared future? By working together, how might we learn to cope with a challenging and complex tomorrow?
To create ‘Future, Before it Happens’, the children imagined ways of tackling climate change using wellbeing techniques such as meditation and breathing exercises developed by the artist. Their ideas are expressed through drawings and objects animated and brought to life in this film.
In the film, we are guided on a journey to the future co-written with the children, where we can visualise solutions to the current climate crisis and are encouraged to work together to make a positive change.
The project was developed by the artist with her long-time collaborator Aleks Berditchevskaia.
They have also designed a free, downloadable toolkit for children aged 8-12 that includes 12 ‘missions’ designed to help young people imagine alternative scenarios for the future in the context of a climate emergency. Use the toolkit and film to inspire creative sessions at home, and in libraries, schools or community centres.
‘Future, Before It Happens’ is an art project created by Stine Marie Jacobsen, children at St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, Liverpool and Aleks Berditchevskaia.
With thanks to the teachers at St Anne’s Catholic Primary School and Bluecoat for their support on this project.
Credits:
Programme Manager: James Harper
Curator of Learning: Klaire Doyle
Learning Assistant: Alex Bishop
Filmmaker: George Ellis
Illustrations: Jack Hunter
Design: Modem Studio
'Future, Before It Happens' - Project with children from St Anne's Primary School
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Artist
Stine Marie Jacobsen
Stine Marie Jacobsen (she/her) is a conceptual artist working on long term participatory & educational projects and professor of new media art at Die Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, Germany.
Stine investigates and questions institutional structures concerned with participation in law, violence, and education, while advocating for civic participation in art and politics. Her negotiations have led her to develop artistic methods for anti-violence training, law writing, and protest as sport through her projects Direct Approach (2012-), Law Shifters (2016-), and Group-Think (2020-).
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Collaborator
Aleks Berditchevskaia
Aleks Berditchevskaia is the Principal Researcher at Nesta’s Centre for Collective Intelligence Design. She is a mixed methods researcher and has helped organisations like the International Federation for the Red Cross and UNDP use collective intelligence methods and participatory design to address issues ranging from climate adaptation to crisis response.