The Climate Experiment
2018
A film about the Swedish artist duo Bigert & Bergström’s climate-related art, which for three decades has been inspired by research on the effects of climate on humanity and vice versa.
The Climate Experiment tells the story of the growing realization of our own role in the changing climate. Our interference in the atmospheric cocktail could be described as the greatest experiment in human history. An experiment whose outcome is highly uncertain.
The film presents the lurking awareness of our own role in the change of climate. The title refers to the kind of research that challenged the conception of nature as an inexhaustible resource, but also to the artists’ own work with various geo-engineering projects, in which they try to deal with the effects of an increasingly heated atmosphere.
In the film we follow Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström during the last year’s research journeys, major exhibitions, inaugurals of public works and meetings with journalists, environmental historians and climate researchers. Can the artist be a social-minded researcher? Can contemporary art draw attention to problems in new ways and thus affect public opinion? The movie is an attempt to answer these questions.
PROCESS photos
Photos: Lars Siltberg
Excerpts from the film
SCREENINGS
Skissernas Museum Lund, 31 May 2018 (Premier screening) TV Premiere Sweden SVT2, 01 June 2018 22nd Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival 25-30 October 2018
American Swedish Institute Minnesota 7 March 2019 CPH:DOX 19 International Film Festival Copenhagen 20-31 March 2019 Metakino Festival Helsinki 4-5 October 2019 Møre og Romsdal Kunstsenter (Molde, Norway) 19 January 2023
CREDITS
"The Climate Experiment," 2018 58 min. HD Written and directed by Bigert & Bergström Produced by Bigert & Bergström Cinematography Lars Siltberg Editing Kristofer Nordin Original music Carl Michael von Hausswolff with David Österberg and Anna von Hausswolff Sound design Carl Michael von Hausswolff and David Österberg Graphic design Björn Kusoffsky Stockholm Design Lab Visual effects Adam Marko-Nord Alphaville Studio and editing assistant Hugo Hedberg Grading Carl Skaff Chimney Sound design and mix Thomas Huhn Chimney Translations Jennifer Evans The Climate Experiment is produced by Bigert & Bergström in co-production with SVT/K Special, Emelie Persson ©Bigert & Bergström & SVT 2018
Interviews in the film with Bigert & Bergström
Sara Arrhenius, Royal Institute of Art , Stockholm Jerry Carlsson & Anette Sidor, Verket Produktion Mari Linnman, 3-ca, Paris Monica Anjefelt & Pia Lehto, Kobra, SVT Special Thanks Henric Larsson, Chimney Kaimei Olsson Wang, Shanghai CIRC, Abisko Futurniture, Stockholm Riksbyggen Sara Arrhenius, Konsthögskolan, Stockholm Art & Theory, Stockholm Jerry Carlsson & Anette Sidor, Verket Produktion Personalen på Hôpital Delafontaine, Paris Mari Linnman, 3-ca, Paris Serge Damon Estelle Lacombe National Science Foundation and U.S.Geological Survey Marmor & Granit, Kristianstad Power Ekroth, Oslo Kommun Monica Anjefelt & Pia Lehto, KOBRA Artipelag Hangmen Lena Wallersten, The Diplomatic Forum Masen, Ouarzazate Cleanergy
