Festival of Social Science 2026: Create, Connect and Care — Art for Our Environment

Event details

This event is part of Coventry University's Festival of Social Science 2026 and is supported through the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.

This event explores what matters most to people in nature and how everyday and discarded materials can help people think differently about the environment.

Attendees will have the opportunity to explore environmental issues through art in several ways: 

• Adding their creativity to a collective artwork, responding to the question “What matters most to you in nature?” Individual contributions will be brought together to create a new shared art piece.
• Experiencing an artificial lung installation built from repurposed and recycled materials. Linked to live global air-quality data, the structure adapts its breathing rate and strength to make invisible shifts in the atmosphere visible.
• Creating art using sustainable materials alongside James Robinson, one of the original FAiR artists, in a playful, co-creative activity.
• Discovering the story behind FAiR and how artists, communities, researchers and schools in Malaysia and the UK have used creativity to explore environmental challenges together.

These activities build on the FAiR (Frugal Artist-in-Residence) Exhibition, held in Coventry in August, which brought together artworks and stories created across Malaysia and the UK.

FAiR explores how locally available, natural, and repurposed materials, combined with creativity and community participation, can encourage new conversations about the environment.

Who’s leading the event?

Professor Sylvester Arnab from Coventry University's Research Centre for Arts and Creative Cultures

Who's it for?

Open to all - especially relevant for anyone interested in art or the environment

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