Arts and media are crucial sites where meanings (and thus discourses) circulate, which makes them interesting to study.
Media and the arts often produce and reproduce dominant ways of thinking about the environment. However, they also allow for counter-voices, for different ways of thinking, to challenge these dominant ways of thinking.
We are interested in the discursive struggles between the different environmental and sustainability discourses that circulate in Swedish arts and media. In addition, we want to work on developing strategies to open up existing discursive patterns and constellations for a constructive engagement with new or marginalised perspectives.
Audio-visual media, social media and film
As there are many different media, we will focus on a selection, always keeping their cross-sections and intersections in mind:
- audio-visual media (focusing on television series and documentary film)
- social media (focusing on blogs, YouTube channels and Facebook groups)
- exhibitions and environmental art projects.
Mapping, case studies and feedback loops
Our research uses a staged approach:
- Mapping of relevant practices
- Six case studies in each of the three clusters (audiovisual media, social media and the arts)
- Discussing the case study results with the producers of the selected media, exhibitions and arts projects
- Sharing our insights through exhibitions, workshops and (video) publications
People involved
Nico Carpentier is Extraordinary Professor at Charles University in Prague. He is responsible for the work on media and arts inMISTRA Environmental Communication.
Vaia Doudaki is Researcher at Charles University in Prague. In Mistra Environmental Communication, she is responsible for the non-academic partner participation and joint knowledge production on communication on the media and arts.
Anna Rozsypal Pajerová is the communication officer of the MEC project at Charles University in Prague.
Natálie Švarcová is the finance officer at Charles University in Prague.
Jutta Haider is a Professor in Information Studies at the University of Borås. Jutta is responsible for the contextual analyses in our reseach on media and arts.
Sofie Joosse is a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, responsible for research on social media and arts.
Malte Rödl Researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, responsible for WP5’s thematic area of social media in the MISTRA-EC project
Björn Eriksson is a Research Assistant for the MISTRA-EC project at Charles University in Prague.
Kirill Filimonov is Researcher at Charles University in Prague. In the MISTRA-EC project, he is responsible for a series of audiovisual case studies in 2021.
Gerardo Costabile Nicoletta is visiting researcher at the ICSJ of Charles University. In 2021, Gerardo is responsible for the audio-visual case study on finance and environment within the WP5 MISTRA-EC project.
Representatives of societal partners
Bodil Elmhagen is Research Coordinator at the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management. As a societal partner in the MEC project, the Association has a particular interest in environmental communication concerning citizen science.
Ylva Hillström is a curator at the Education department at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. She holds a MA in art history. Ylva has a strong engagement in environmental issues. She initiated Moderna Museet’s online platform Acclimatize in 2016, where people of all ages could upload creative responses to the climate crisis and draw inspiration from interviews with renowned artists.
Virpi Lindfors is Head of Biotopia, which is a municipal, biological museum in Uppsala. Virpi holds a PhD in Zoology (Evolutionary ecology).
Lotten Lundgren is project manager at Focus on Pesticide Use, an informational campaign run by The Federation of Swedish Farmers. She works primarily with spreading information to farmers about safe handling of plant protection products to minimize risks for human health and the environment.
Maria Norling is a senior consultant at WSP, Ph.D. in Environmental strategies analysis, and environmental economist. Within Mistra EC she will be working broadly and linking the discussions over all WPs. She will also bring new insights on communication practices to WSP and try them out.
Erik Sörgren is founder of Res Eko, a consumer magazine and content agency, about ecological products and sustainable tourism. Res Eko’s aim is to inspire more people to live and travel climate-smart.
Daniel Urey is a process leader at Färgfabriken, a contemporary art centre in Stockholm. Daniel Urey has a background in political science, art history and philosophy. He has mainly been occupied in developing projects with the goal of securing culture as a vital social infrastructure.
Sanja Vujicic will be studying how the different project work packages are interconnecting when it comes to environmental communication, but also how they are communicating their work externally. Another aspect that will be studied by Sanja is how WSP (Consultancy Firm) is working and communicating sustainability and how the company can learn from the MEC project.
Rebecka Wigh Abrahamsson is curator of Uppsala Art Museum, which is a municipal, museum in Uppsala. Rebecka is specialised in contemporary art, and has in her practice been addressing global issues of gender imbalance, postcolonial themes, as well as climate change.
Individual resource persons
Holly Keasey is an artist working within expanded Public and Environmental Arts. Her performative research practice spans tactical curatorial practices and the generation of artist-led space for social movement.
Collaboration
We work together with a diversity of partners, through a variety of instruments, including sounding boards, video letters, public lectures, unconferences and co-writing.
See a short introduction to the media and arts project by Nico Carpentier.
Read more and find all outputs the focus area here: The Mistra Environmental Communication Research Programme Component at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism (ICSJ)
