The Leopold Museum in Vienna hosts an online exhibition that captures the impact of climate change on our planet through the lens of art and well-known paintings. Partnering with the CCCA – the Climate Change Centre Austria – as well as 12 renowned scientists from various fields such as biology, geology and meteorology, the online exhibition determine the precise number of degrees by which climate change would impact the landscapes depicted in the paintings and how it would affect the natural environments captured by the artists. The collection presents a powerful visual representation of the consequences of climate change and aims to create more climate awareness without printing a single poster.
For years scientists have warned about an increase of the world’s climate by over 1.5 °C. However, this information doesn’t seem to be impacting most people’s behaviour towards climate change. According to the curators, this happens because 1.5 °C is an abstract figure that seems an almost unnoticeable difference for many. To demonstrate the uncomfortable impact of just a few degrees more, the Leopold Museum has rotated paintings of landscapes and nature – from Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, and Gustave Courbet – by the exact amount that climate change will affect the regions they depict. And by doing so, demonstrated that a global increase of over 1.5 °C can have a devastating impact on our coasts, mountains, lakes and cities.
