Session TM13

TM13 | Inherited Weather: an audiovisual performance on our legacy to future generations

Inherited Weather: an audiovisual performance on our legacy to future generations

Convener: Gabriele Messori | Co-convener: Davide Faranda

Tue, 05 May, 19:00–20:00 (CEST)

Room D2

"A journey through turbulence and climate change using multiple-art media" - this project proposes two artistic performances that build a strong emotional connection to two key topics within the Geosciences: turbulence in fluid dynamics and climate change. The first part of the project jointly leverages multiple-art media to trigger an emotional connection to how our actions today affect the climate that future generations will live in. We will express data on the recent and projected future climate and climate extremes in the form of music and moving image, engaging the audience through multiple senses. The second part of the project transforms real and simulated fluid dynamics data—governed by the Navier-Stokes equations—into music, movement, and visuals. Using both experimental measurements from the von Kármán setup at SPEC and numerical simulations. We would like to present the results of the first part of the project, in the form of an audiovisual performance, at a Townhall meeting during EGU 2026.
The performance will focus on the time delay between action and consequence: what we do today affects future generations. Decisions that we take today can force an undesirable climatic future on future generations, and limit their freedom of choice. A related theme is the disappearance of possibilities. When we make choices today which are not in line with minimising climate change, we are effectively making certain climatic futures less likely, or even impossible.
The target audience is broad, spanning most divisions of EGU, as we believe that the majority of EGU attendees has an interest for the ongoing human-driven changes in Earth’s climate system. The outcome that we hope to achieve is an emotional connection to the human relevance of climate change, beyond the scientific and quantitative understanding of climate change that many of EGU’s attendees likely already have. We indeed argue that music and visual art offer a compelling way to connect scientific understanding with emotional understanding. This is fully in line with EGU’s value to promote the use of geoscience knowledge for the benefit of humanity and the planet.

The oral presentations are given in a hybrid format supported by a Zoom meeting featuring on-site and virtual presentations. The button to access the Zoom meeting appears just before the time block starts.