“The Artivist Network are an amazing resource for the climate justice movement... They go ‘above and beyond’ to make sure their partners’ actions, protests and stunts achieve the desired impact and their creativity and commitment are truly inspiring."
Adam Musgrave, Global Climate Justice Campaign Lead, Oxfam International
Art Space & Artivist-in Residencies at COP 28
As a lead-up to COP 28, we provided online consultations and online training for climate justice groups to brainstorm creative action concepts, design creative action strategies and help the administration process for action approvals inside of the Blue Zone
In Dubai, we hosted an artivist-in-residence program by inviting creatives and activists from Central-Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Americas and also collaborated with artists brought by delegations from South Africa and the Middle East.
Our team had a crucial role in creative action organizing and action support by working together with different groups and organizations in the fields of action documentation, visual art, street art, political theatre, creative storytelling, inflatable art, creative action support and action coordination to help create a diverse range of interventions at the COP 28. We prioritized creative action support for Indigenous groups and frontline communities and we closely collaborated & shared art space with Indigenous Climate Action.
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Actions at COP 28
In addition to our artivist-in-residence program, we had another team dedicated to the action support inside of the Blue Zone at COP 28. We supported over 25+ actions including cross-constituency actions with visuals, choreography, documentation, storytelling, creative action organizing and action coordination for grassroots groups, NGOs and global campaigns.
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Photography by Bianka Csenki, The Artivist Network
Photography by Bianka Csenki, The Artivist Network
Photography by Bianka Csenki, The Artivist Network
Photography by Bianka Csenki, The Artivist Network
Civil Society Climate Justice Hub
The Civil Society Climate Justice Hub (CSCJ Hub) is a dedicated pavilion for the movements, particularly for the global climate justice movement to connect and grow, build and shape demands, maintain pressure for ambitious climate action and place climate justice at the centre of the global climate discourse.
Recognising that ordinary Civil Society groups, often under-resourced, will find it impossible to fund the purchase of pavilion space at the commercial rates being offered, this provided an attractive alternative. As the Artivist Network, we designed and decorated the space by curating visual artworks from various climate justice campaigns and grassroots movements to represent our collective intersectional movement at COP 28. We decorated the walls of the CSO hub with homemade and hand-painted banners from grassroots groups and international movements from around the world, as well as prints and artworks about extractivism and climate justice by the South East Asian Artivist Network.
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"Mobilization at COPs has become increasingly important and has particularly gained specific momentum since COP27 in Egypt, where actions inside the Blue Zone became more relevant. For CAN Europe, partnering with the Artivist Network in planning and deploying these actions has proven to be a guarantee of quality. The resulting mobilisations are very rich in creativity and inclusivity in their conception, which means a higher chance to impact decision-makers and being picked by mainstream media"
Samuel Martín-Sosa, Network Development Coordinator, CAN Europe