Energy Futures Print Portfolio

Past Initiative

A bold meeting of science, literature and art to spark better conversations about energy.

THIS PROJECT WAS SUPPORTED BY THE LAB'S IMPACT STUDIO

Overview

To help spur on more productive conversations about energy, Lab Fellow Eveline Kolijn boldly challenged over 40 visual artists and writers to explore and share their experience and understanding of energy transition innovation in a bold collaboration that invites audiences to see energy in a whole new light. After taking part in a lecture series and paired discussions with scientists, engineers or energy professionals, the creators submitted individual works that became first a fine art print portfolio, and later an award-winning book - Reimagining Fire, as well as a traveling art exhibition and speaker series.

Why It Matters

76%

of Canadians are concerned about climate change's impact on future generations of Canadians

<50%

of Canadians identify 'burning fossil fuels' as the main source of climate pollution

13% ↓

public support for reducing carbon emissions as a priority for energy policy slid from 44% to 31% between 2023 and 2025

The Challenge

A majority of Albertans now believe in the need for an energy transition in Canada, however stories shared about it through political rhetoric and echoed in media continue to be starkly polarizing, often negative and demotivating.

Energy transition isn’t simply a technological feat. The challenge ahead is multi-faceted, impacting each and every one of us in unique ways. It’s also a conversation, a matter of culture and an opportunity for people from across disciplines to develop a shared vision for our energy future and engage with it via both technical and non-technical mediums.

Our Approach

With the support of the Lab, Eveline organized a series of learning sessions that paired artists with science and energy professionals, many drawn from the Lab’s own network. Once settled on a concept, she paired artists and writers interested in similar subjects to create a connected visual and text-based entry to the portfolio. By engaging in informative discussions with Fellows, selected writers and artists shared knowledge and ideas about Alberta’s evolving energy system and the opportunities and challenges shaping this transition. The result was the production of a physical portfolio of fine art prints, and a publishing deal for a book featuring prints, stories, poems and essays that represent Alberta’s complex relationship to energy transition.

[t]he energy transition now underway needs more stories. We need narratives of escape, survival, salvage, even (maybe especially) triumph

Chris Turner
Author, How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World

Impact

Eveline was approached by Millarville-based Durvile and UpRoute books who offered the opportunity to expand on the portfolio’s original content with extended writings and reproductions of the prints in a book format. Not only are the visual representations beautiful and creative interpretations of the energy system in a multitude of forms, they are accessible to the public via the paperback book, Reimagining Fire, which is available at local bookstores as well as online through major retailers like Amazon and Indigo.

Bringing together the technical and energy systems knowledge of the Fellows with the creativity of artists and writers has potential to expand energy literacy and sparks new ways of thinking about how we produce and consume it.

Significance

Reimagining Fire: The Future of Energy is now in its second Canadian print run, has been featured in numerous media, and gone on to be published in the US. Harvard University's Library was the book’s first US customer.

As Chris Turner notes in the book's forward, “[t]he energy transition now underway needs more stories. We need narratives of escape, survival, salvage, even (maybe especially) triumph”. By drawing in non-traditional voices and expanding narratives as part of public conversations about energy transition, this initiative has helped broaden perspectives and deepen awareness of the scientific, technological and social innovation work taking place in Alberta.

While the official scope of work for this project with the EFL concluded with the book’s publication, the project’s reach continues to grow under Eveline’s leadership. Since the book was published, there have been a series of events open to the public and readings at various events in and around Alberta from Edmonton to the Crowsnest Pass and beyond, an exhibition of the portfolio at the Leighton Art Gallery, and the addition of a provincial “tour” of the portfolio through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts' Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX).