Foto: Elise Kristin Sæhle / Oslofjord Triennale / Avbildet: Elly Vadseth

The Lifecycle of the Artwork

Useful tips on what to consider and account for across various types of artistic production.

When creating an artwork, consider the primary sources of emissions in each specific case and evaluate the entire lifecycle of the piece. This encompasses material composition, production, storage, and transportation of the artwork itself, alongside exhibition, sale, potential maintenance, or final disposal.

Which measures can you implement to achieve the greatest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions? What yields the most significant cost savings while simultaneously preserving high artistic quality?

This formula can serve as a guide for climate budgeting and carbon accounting. Over time, you can enter the figures into a climate calculator to document your projects and track progress over time.

Emissions vary between materials, but also between products within the same material group. Start by identifying the worst offenders, those materials that release the most $CO_2$ during extraction, production, and disposal. If you automatically eliminate these from the choices available in your artistic production, you have already made a significant impact on reducing emissions.

As the Circular Gap Report for Norway (2020) shows, only 2.4% of the resources we use return to the economy once they are "finished" being used. The global average is estimated at 8.6%, placing the Norwegian figure well below that benchmark. We throw away almost everything we take in, retaining virtually nothing.
Reversing this habit requires greater knowledge of how circularity can be implemented in practice. When creating an artwork, it is vital to establish a plan and consider the primary sources of emissions in each specific case. Envision the impact your artwork will have throughout its entire lifecycle. Which measures can you implement to achieve the greatest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and which yield the most significant cost savings while simultaneously preserving high artistic quality?

Below, we have put together a checklist of key considerations throughout the entire process, from initial concept to the completed production and presentation of the artwork. This checklist is a living document and will be updated regularly.

Carbon Footprint

Start by setting up a simple carbon audit that you can populate as you make various decisions throughout the project. If you wish, you can also establish a carbon budget prior to the project and evaluate how it holds up once your carbon audit is finalized.

Over time, you can compare all your projects and calculate the volume of $CO_2$ emitted during the creation of an artwork. This approach allows you to analyze your own practice and identify more effective, sustainable methods to reduce your overall carbon footprint.

Checklist:

Plan for production:

The single greatest environmental impact of your artwork is likely your choice of materials. Many alternatives exist, yet each becomes part of the artwork's final story and footprint.

Always consider the geographic origin of materials, where they are extracted, whether they are virgin inputs, and whether they can be recycled.
Factor in the distances required for transport, as well as any necessary processing carried out by a manufacturer or by you.
Evaluate the future possibilities and environmental footprint of your chosen materials across the remainder of their lifecycle, long after production is complete.

Is it possible to work with space artistically without adding material objects or generating waste from what you work with?

Work outdoors or in alternative spaces, where existing elements contribute to conveying meaning to the audience rather than producing new material.
Engage with walks, sound, existing communities, and resources, and explore whether you can develop new methods of working that leave no trace behind.

Can you discover alternative ways to engage with our environment?

Explore whether you can open up a micro-world. The minuscule also possesses the ability to make an impact, even when invisible to the naked eye. We can work toward making the invisible visible, giving it form, language, and presence.

Planning

Explore how everything in your production and project can remain at the highest possible level along the sustainability parameter.
Creating connections through spatial means (everything we perceive through our senses, positioned in time and space). These connections can form between humans and non-living materials, as well as between humans and other living beings, plants, and organisms. Combining plastics with nature highlights the problem, whereas biodegradable materials point toward a solution. Crucially, encounters between people experiencing the same space through their senses open space for discussion.
Working in miniature offers another avenue: when working at a small scale, consumption decreases accordingly
Use art to spotlight the magic in the antithesis of overconsumption, such as in human encounters, shared experiences, what we already possess, and what already exists. Stop time. Allow people to listen and sense.
Minimalism carries a major advantage regarding consumption reduction, even if the maximalist within us winces.
Produce as few physical objects as possible.
Engage with artistic expressions that focus on sustainable processes, long-term productions, and transdisciplinary approaches.
Transform your home and neighborhood into project venues, inviting the local community to exchange experience and knowledge.
A modest budget benefits the environment; it compels sustainable thinking and encourages shared expenses.

Recycle

Develop concepts around reuse as a methodology. We can reuse materials from others, and we can reuse materials from ourselves. Could seven different performances be created within the same scenography?
Use your own body as a tool and care for it (maintaining proper nutrition and hygiene throughout the production).
Work on remaining accessible to the audience by offering multiple avenues for engagement (the work should form part of a series, or allow for reproduction).
Utilize an already existing venue with well-developed infrastructure that can be used across multiple occasions.
Recycling is key! If the artwork contains physical objects, collect them and repurpose them for future occasions.
Use materials from one artwork to construct a new one.

Processing of Materials

Establish requirements for material use and the reuse of art materials.
Select materials with care.
Be conscious of whether processing materials prevents future reuse and recycling. Structures can be joined in ways that allow them to be dismantled and reused.
Let the location inspire thoughtful choices of materials; what you use and how you use it should be carefully evaluated. (For example: "After the White Whale", presented on Håøya in the Oslofjord.)

Storage

Plan for durable long-term storage or use biodegradable materials. Take particular care to prevent moisture damage, and ensure items are clean prior to storage.

Transport

Strive to use public transportation to transport both project contributors and materials. Prioritize spending more time in one location rather than traveling back and forth. Simultaneously, evaluate whether it is more sustainable for the artwork to travel to the audience or for the audience to travel to the artwork.
Travel by public transport, such as train or boat. This should form an integral part of the artistic process and contribute to shaping the artworks themselves.
Use local suppliers; share expenses and seize the opportunity to educate one another on frugality within the art industry.
Locate audiences in close proximity to the venue.