Reassess travel practices

While travel is an important part of some artists’ work, it undoubtedly heavily impacts the carbon emissions of your practice and may require mitigating strategies. As an example artist Álvaro Laiz's Beyond the Edge (2022) carbon footprint shows how much air travel can impact the a project's emissions.

Reduce air travel

Minimising travel by plane and encouraging responsible travel and transportation related to your work is one way to drastically reduce carbon emissions.

Consider remote installation

Explore options like remote installation to minimise travel needs. Is there someone local that you trust to oversee the installation (e.g. local gallery, artist or a friend)? See, for example, artist Shirley Tse's remote exhibition installation at M+ in Hong Kong.

Collaborate

Even if travel seems necessary, explore opportunities for collaboration to limit these impacts. For instance, Shezad Dawood partnered with filmmakers, Indigenous artists, and activists in Brazil to create Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea (2023) eliminating the need for flights between Brazil and the UK. This approach significantly reduced the carbon footprint, exemplifying the potential for collaborative efforts to mitigate environmental impacts. Learn more here.

Incentivise alternatives

Presenting partners can encourage not flying by offering financial equivalents instead of covering travel costs, and/or offering additional time and expenses for those who opt for slower forms of travel, such as train.

Prioritise local transport

Research and prioritise public transportation options. If using cars or vans, choose electric vehicles where available.

Where possible, no flights should be taken in relation to this project. If flights are necessary, we should follow GCC’s 10 Steps to Reduce the Impact of Air Travel.
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No business, first class, or private flights should be taken in relation to this project.
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I/We request that institutions/galleries should incentivise not flying by offering equivalent cash to artists in lieu of covering travel & accommodation costs.
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Throughout this project we will operate a ‘train-first policy’ which means that trains should be the preferred mode of transport where possible. Any additional costs associated with this should come out of the project budget, rather than the artist’s fee.
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If car/van travel is needed for transportation in any capacity related to this project, I/We request that electric over petrol/diesel vehicles be used where possible.

Concept Touring by LIFT festival is a commissioning programme for artists to develop concepts for international touring projects, where the idea, process and work travels, but the artist does not.

“Every international project we do we now look at through a Concept Touring lens. We’re adding to the knowledge we’ve got. These are some of the questions we consider when exploring a new project:

• Is there a way to add a local element or deeper collaboration to this project?
• Who needs to travel and why?
• What will be the benefit to audiences to have a live presence and contact from these artists?
• What elements of the project can be reproduced here?
• What previous experience can we adapt to this scenario?
• What are we going to need to invent?
• What considerations of culture do we need to make?”