The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds: Intro
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds is a long-term, ongoing research, curatorial, and activist effort, bringing together photo-based artists from across the planet to confront the climate emergency. This project is organized by myself, Ethan Rafal, with ongoing input from artists, curators, and activists. Further iterations of the project will appear — please be in touch if you have ideas or want to be involved.
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds — Fotobokfestival Oslo 2020. Oslo, Norway. September 10-20, 2020. Photos: Tor S Ulstein.
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds contains books made by 50 photographic artists and artist collectives whose work urgently responds to the climate crisis. The artists represent 36 countries and 2 occupied territories on 6 continents. Their projects have been created in ecosystems that span the entire planet. The collected photo books offer a striking comparative analysis of a global phenomenon that has reached a state of emergency.
The first public exhibition of The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds took place in September, 2020, in Oslo, Norway, in partnership with the Forbundet Frie Fotografer (FFF) for their yearly project, Fotobokfestival Oslo. The 2020 festival showcased 50 photo book projects and related video works in a public square in central Oslo. The festival was designed as a space for “direct pedagogy” — an expanded library built for public engagement, dedicated to the movement of knowledge from the institution to the street. The festival exhibition — and subsequent online symposium — were timed in conjunction with a major lawsuit against the Norwegian oil industry.
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds: Fotobokfestival Oslo 2020 Exhibition — Who, What, 3 Containers. Video: Norwegian Photography Now. Intro Film and overview of the festival, answering the who, what, and how.
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds
Who: 50 Photo Book Artists and Artist Collectives
What: Responding to the Climate Emergency
Where: On Planet Earth
When: Now
Why: To help foster a survivable planet
How: Research + Community + International Cooperation
50 Books & These Webpages
Within these webpages — Exhibition, Publication, and Symposium — you will find 50 photo books: 50 bodies of research for comparative analysis, 50 pieces of a puzzle. These collected materials are meant to provide you an in. The goal is that you will get to visit the physical exhibition, and spend time with the physical books. But since that is not possible now, due to Covid-19, these materials are meant to offer you a parallel experience to engage with the artist’s works.
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds: Fotobokfestival Oslo 2020 Exhibition — Why Here, Why Now. Video: Norwegian Photography Now. Intro Film and overview of the festival: deeper into the why.
A Note From Fotobokfestival Oslo —
We gathered these projects in Oslo, Norway — the capital of an oil state — as a call to action. To Knowledge. To Cooperation. To Internationalism. The climate emergency is past the make-or-break moment. The systems that precariously sustained us are crumbling. Ultimately, the path away from this crisis is not to be found through these 50 artists, but through the actions of the viewer, you — individuals joining forces to act collectively, locally, globally. We must come together to confront state and corporate extraction enterprises that have precipitated this crisis. The endgame is a survivable planet.
Note, too: despite global involvement, this cannot be a comprehensive project. There are too many intersections with the global climate emergency to fit in one project. There are many relevant, absent concerns. And there are countless bodies of research that are not developed within the photo book medium. We need to keep organizing spaces to share research and foster community in a renewed spirit of international solidarity.
The Climate Emergency in 50 Rounds is neither the beginning nor the end — it is a step forward in the global project we all find ourselves working on: how to survive on planet Earth in the 21st century.
Corporate Globalization.
Nationalism.
Neo-fascism.
Fossil State & Carbon Apartheid.
Cooperation.
Internationalism.
Social Democracy.
Climate Justice.