Several people gathered in front of Malmö Arena, Sweden. They listened to something from their smartphone through earphones. Although today was the beginning of May, which usually in some European countries are getting warmer, that morning in Malmö was windy and a little bit cold.
“He is wrong, I am not inside any headphones…I am inside your head” That voice struck the listeners. It is the voice of Selma who is dead in 2050. Before she is buried, “she wants to talk to a person from 2021 and show them how, in Malmö, everything is possible. That person is you.” This is the beginning of a climate sound walk called Climaginaries.
The sound walk allows the listeners to imagine how the city might be affected by climate change over the coming 30 years. The story leads the listeners to walk visiting one by one spot that revolves around Selma’s life, that collected memories from the turbulent years.
After the participants downloaded the Climaginaries app on their phones, they listen to the story entitled “Memories of the Transition” which brings the listeners to the rooftop of a mall named Emporia. Selma accompanies their walking and tells what happened on the spots around the rooftop during her life. Through Selma’s story, the listeners meet some figures, from truck drivers, activists, and prime ministers, to local school children. They deliver their own story and build a mosaic of the transition to the post-fossil society.
The interesting thing is this story feels so real, like how a worldwide mall is being occupated, a strike in front of the supermarket, drought, heatwave, and failed climate policies. It is supported by the awesome sound work that can form an atmosphere through the talent’s voice and amazing soundscape.
The presence in the real place also helps the listeners to sense and take the story as their own stories. They can touch the bench, look at what the storyteller looks like, as well as feel the surrounding light and air touch their skin.
The intertwined social-political-economy-ecological issues in this story also make the listeners capture more or less the complex problem of climate change. Listening to Climaginaries’s story is like listening to testimonies from victims and survivors of disasters. However, the victims are not from the past, but from the future, and the victims could be us!
The idea behind this project is the creator believes “that climate change can be made tangible in order to engage people”. The Climaginaries project is made based on multidisciplinary research by group scholars from Lund, Utrecht, Durham, and Warwick Universities. The project is a response to the fact that to activate the power that enables the transition into a post-fossil society, we do not only rely on scientific data and legislative measures, but also effectual means, like a narrative of post-fossil worlds.
The Climaginaries project was funded by Formas, a Swedish government research council for sustainable development. The sound work was created by Hi Story and Umami, while the illustration on the app was designed by Sara Granér.
The good news is people from abroad also can listen to Selma’s story by downloading it from the Climaginaries app in the ‘GPS-free’ version and it’s free!
The Climaginaries project shows us that art through its narrative has great power to move people making changes for a better future. Thanks to the Climaginaries project which provides engaging stories that allow us to imagine the future where climate change is experienced, to think about what we should do and what solutions can be proposed related to this issue!
Memories from the transition
