The annual Sustainability Week in Lund is fast approaching, with a packed programme once again this year. From the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, we find music, performance and artistic research in interactive events that aim to do more than simply inform — they aim to move people.
Sustainability is a multifaceted field that extends far beyond the natural sciences. The concept also encompasses artistic, existential and social perspectives. From the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, we are participating with:
- A Green Day at the Academy of Music, a drop-in event organised by the school’s environmental committee.
- Sustainability at a Crossroads, which combines a performance with a lecture. By doctoral students Iury Salustiano Trojaborg (Malmö Theatre Academy) and Juan Samper (LUCSUS).
Common to both programme items is the ambition not only to impart knowledge, but to create opportunities for reflection and emotional engagement. So, what can we expect from artistic perspectives when it comes to sustainability?
A Green Day at the Academy of Music
At the Malmö Academy of Music, Sustainability Week has become a regular platform for highlighting the school’s sustainability work. Behind this year’s event is, among others, the department’s environmental committee, where teaching staff members, researchers, librarians and students jointly invite everyone to an interactive event at the school.
“We see great value in our department also contributing to Lund University’s overall sustainability work. We see Sustainability Week as a fitting platform where we have been able to contribute our musical and artistic perspectives,” says Hannes Wikström, a PhD student at the Academy of Music and one of the organisers.
The event combines live music performed by students, literature and sheet music exhibitions organised by the library and stations where visitors can literally get their hands in the soil and plant. The audience can come and go, pause, listen and reflect.
Art that enables feeling
But behind the concrete elements lies a broader context. The Environment Committee’s aim with their Green Day is for visitors to take away at least one new idea about how music and art can play a role in the work towards the green transition.
“Art has a rare ability to stir emotions. Facts and information about the climate crisis and dire future scenarios can be hard to deal with, and also difficult to grasp. Nor is it certain that the message will get through if it is understood solely in terms of facts and figures", says Hannes Wikström.
Music and art have historically served as spaces for the emotional — for grief, anxiety, hope and resistance. In an era marked by climate anxiety and feelings of powerlessness, artistic practices can serve both therapeutic and mobilising purposes in addressing existential questions.
“Since time immemorial, people have turned to music as a space for emotional work (…). Personally, I believe that in the future we may well see more music that addresses our difficult feelings regarding the climate crisis — music that fulfils a therapeutic function,” says Hannes Wikström.
However, the role of emotions in sustainability issues is not limited to the world of music. These views on its significance are also shared by other participants during Sustainability Week, including Iury Salustiano Trojaborg, a PhD student at the Theatre Academy.
“Feelings are largely avoided and even prohibited in academia, and that’s exactly why I much appreciate to include them in my research. As any other human being, I am guided by feelings, so why should I keep them out of my research?”, says Iury Salustiano Trojaborg.
Social and colonial perspectives on sustainability
For Iury Salustiano Trojaborg, sustainability is not just about the environment and climate, but also about history, power and social justice. Her research addresses issues such as sustainability and colonisation.
“As a member of the Agenda 2030 Graduate School at Lund University, and with the welcome news that Lund University now ranks first in the global sustainability rankings, I felt a strong need to take part in Sustainability Week before I complete my doctoral studies,” explains Iury Salustiano Trojaborg.
Together with Juan Samper (LUCSUS), Iury Salustiano Trojaborg has created a performance and lecture in one, entitled Sustainability at a Crossroads. Her performance is inspired by tributes and sacrificial rites to gods representing the various elements of nature in Afro-Brazilian creation myths. The audience is invited to engage with the issues raised.
“When we talk about sustainability, environmental issues are often the first to come to mind. But there is so much more to it than that. I originally come from a colonised country, and the effects of colonialism can still be felt to this today.”
She concludes with a final reflection:
“We live in a world where we talk far too much and listen far too little. While developing my work, I make and effort to silence and listen: to myself, to my ancestors, to other beings, to Nature. This is what I hope for all of us: that we make an effort to get out of ourselves and develop empathy and respect towards minorities, towards those who are different from us.”
Welcome to experiencing Sustainability through art!
During Sustainability Week in Lund, the public will have the opportunity to engage with issues surrounding sustainability in all its forms. The public is offered the chance to experience sustainability as something lived, not merely understood.
We welcome the public to our programme events, which in various ways invite reflection, thought and feeling around Sustainability through Art.
