Merging Art, Law and Activism

© Gergely Ofner

Art, Law and Activism are widely viewed as three separate disciplines. However, all three disciplines are involved in discussions around climate change. Regarding the currently pending Climate Change advisory opinion before the ICJ (Climate Change AO), the Interactive Media Foundation, which is a partner of the WY4CJ, came up with the idea to merge these disciplines and use the synergies arising out of sharing the different perspectives.

Many young people working or studying in these fields could apply to be part of this collective. In five different workshops, twelve selected participants from art, law and activism meet with the idea to create a project raising awareness on the Climate Change AO.

My name is Johanna, and I am one of the participants. As an international law student, I am very curious to work in such an interdisciplinary collective, which I already have experienced as very vibrant, engaging, and colorful. So, I want to give you a quick insight on how we work and what we have done so far.

At our first workshop we got the chance to get to know each other and talk about our different visions for the project. It soon became clear, that there was a huge interest in each other’s discipline, but it also sometimes seemed we “speak different languages”. So, to inform each other, we held small presentations giving “a short introduction in international law and ICJ advisory opinions”, “a short introduction in different forms of activism” and “a short introduction into the art discipline”. 

In our second meeting we had a workshop on active listening which taught us how to be engaged with people having a very different opinion from our own. Especially in the climate change context conversations can sometimes get heated. We learned to appreciate how crucial it can be to keep conversation channels open and how mutual understanding can be key in finding allies and coming to fruitful solutions for complex problems. 

In our discussions it became also clear that one of the outcomes of our project should be “preparing civil society for the ICJ Climate Change AO”. In order to share, exchange and work more goal oriented on different trajectories of localising and mobilising civil society for this purpose, we have decided to continue working in focus groups such as the (1) action group; (2) the communication group; (3) the toolkit group and (4) the sustainability and wellbeing group.  

We will also take part in the Hague Story Lab Festival meeting with film directors, storytellers and media professionals to learn more about effective storytelling and visualization. In my view, it is this kind of collaborations that are needed to develop smart solutions for the future and engage with as many people as possible. I look very much forward to learning more in the upcoming workshops and am eager to continue work on our project.