A Note on Sustainability
For the past 20 years, attention to sustainability and care for the planet has been at the heart of everything we do. Our programme has often featured artists addressing environmental themes and who explore making art in a more sustainable way. Dear Earth continues this tradition, and our climate efforts are carried through into the design and build of this exhibition.
Eco Materials
In this exhibition we made use of natural and recyclable materials wherever possible.
Paper Labels
Dear Earth used recyclable paper-based honeycomb (Xanita) board and Dispa board for all our wall labels and panels, and used paper-based tape and packaging. We cut the need for plastic-based materials often used in temporary exhibitions (foam board and vinyl), which enables us to recycle unneeded materials at the end of the exhibition.
Cotton Fabric Banners and Wooden Pop-Ups
To promote the Dear Earth exhibition, we worked with UK companies to produce more eco-friendly banners. We used cotton-based fabric banners printed with water-based inks from Banners For All, and pop-up banners using a wooden frame and PVC-free vinyl material from Eco Banners.
Nori Paste Glue and Low-VOC Paint
We used the Dear Earth exhibition as an opportunity to experiment – mounting our wall signage and exhibition labels using homemade nori paste glue – just a mixture of riceflour and water! The signs held very well on clean even surfaces, and are easy to remove and clean using a warm, damp cloth. We painted as little exhibition furniture as possible, and used Low-VOC (volatile organic compound) eco-friendly paint. We are also looking at ways in which we can reduce the need for paint for future exhibitions!
Flat-pack Plinths
Our new exhibition plinths were fabricated by Edinburgh-based furnituremaker James Birbeck using plywood, rather than often-used MDF board, and we kept their natural finish rather than painting them gallery white. The new plinths are also flat-packable and modular, so we can store and re-use them again in future.
Recycled Fashion Waste Signage
The Dear Earth title signs were crafted by Dundee-based artist Sandra Junele, who collects biodegradable and natural fibres (wool, cotton, cashmere) as waste from fashion industries, and uses them to colour and shape felt-like materials for durable hand-made custom signs. The fibres are bound and fixed using her own plant-based glue recipe, creating a fully biodegradable and natural work of art.
Waste Capture and the Circular Economy
We saved as much material as possible from landfill waste, and found creative and purposeful ways of reusing existing materials.
Circular Economy Workshops with Ostrero
For each of our major exhibitions, we partner with Ostrero, Circular Economy Group, to deliver workshops using any non-recyclable materials left over at the end of the exhibition (such as fabric banners), saving them from landfill and repurposing them to create new objects to take home, such as bags, pencil cases and wallets. The workshops include an introduction to the Circular Economy, and by working with professional designer-makers, participants learn techniques to continue to create objects at home using circular design principles.
Exhibition Waste Capture
When preparing exhibitions, we take extra care to sort and recycle as much material as possible to save it from landfill waste. Recycling stations are set up from the very beginning of the exhibition install to properly recycle any paper, card, aluminium, and hard and soft plastics. We save and re-use all artwork packaging, and keep clean paper and card as extra packaging and transport padding. We are very proud to say that our last two major exhibitions have produced less than one bin bag each of general/landfill waste!
While it is impossible to create the perfect carbon-neutral exhibition, we constantly strive to improve our practices, reducing our carbon footprint each time.
If you would like to know more about what we did and how you might do it too, please get in touch – mail@fcac.co.uk