WEEK 1: Sustainability 101

The first session of the seminar Sustainability 101 introduces participants to sustainability in the visual arts, covering the various vectors of socio-environmental impact and addressing ongoing hurdles faced by the sector. Participants will engage in group discussions to identify sustainability concerns and expectations and examine sources of environmental impact in their own work and practice. The first session also addresses the “recycling myth” and the plastic problem in the visual art sector. Participants will learn about the complicated and often confusing world of bioplastics and how to recognize greenwashing in product marketing through exercises and discussions. We will end the session with the circular economy and zero waste hierarchy as frameworks for the rest of the seminar.