Visual Arts

The ecologically sustainable future of the visual arts sector challenges changes in values and thought patterns, profound consideration of environmental crises, and concrete changes in operations. In Finland, actors in the visual arts field have been pioneers in sustainability thinking for over a decade. Contemporary art works have insightfully addressed broad but often abstract-feeling crises shaking our planet, such as the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Visual arts have taken a significant role in understanding ecological crises and sparking societal discussion.

In the visual arts sector, emissions arise in particular from travel related to internationalisation and major events such as biennials and fairs, transport of works, mobility of the audience, exhibition activities and materials used. Sustainability measures focus on reducing air travel, energy solutions, sustainable procurement and materials, and more effective sustainability communication.

Challenges in promoting the sustainability transition in the visual arts sector relate to the scarcity of resources and personnel, and the need to develop sustainability expertise. Often, there are no resources to hire an eco-coordinator or environmental expert, so sustainability work is done alongside one’s primary duties.

Collaboration among sector actors is strengthened by sharing best practices in sustainability work and developing a common knowledge base. The sustainability transition is accelerated by developing networks that share expertise, offering training on the basics of ecological sustainability and eco-social education, and making the knowledge gained from sustainability projects accessible to all.For example, the Vihreä taide (Green Art) website provides easy-to-use tools for measuring environmental impacts, such as a calculator that gives a scale for sustainability measures. The sustainability toolkit also includes circular economy solutions, such as borrowing and purchasing used materials, and more sustainable funding models.

Visual Arts as Part of the Sustainability Transition

Biodiversity loss, the climate crisis, and the relationship between humans and other species have been explored in the content of visual arts for over a decade. In Finland, visual arts practitioners are often progressive in their sustainability thinking. There is a general understanding in the field that the environmental crisis is affecting the potential of the sector as a whole and changing the conditions for making art in a changing world. In an international context, sustainability discussions must consider regional starting points: the different challenges and local solutions of the global north and south.

The art field has the opportunity to play a role in accelerating the sustainability transition by, for example, bringing environmental and natural sciences together with art, questioning prevailing thought patterns, and improving societal dialogue. The environmental crisis should be understood as a long-term crisis threatening human existence. At the core of the sustainability transition is the question of how to achieve a profound change that affects various aspects of society, people’s values, and lifestyles. Art is one component of society and the ways in which it is made must support sustainability, which requires, among other things, identifying and rejecting ecologically unsustainable practices

In addition to carbon calculators and environmental plans, the visual arts sector needs more comprehensive discussions on ecological sustainability to support the sustainability transition. It would be essential to see the overlapping effects of actions, to recognise the values of different activities and their role in achieving a sustainability transition, and to understand ecosocial awareness as the basis for all activities. In sustainability work, practical actions such as carbon accounting and environmental programmes should go hand in hand with the development of new thought patterns.

During the LuoTo project, it has been recognised that emphasising ecological sustainability can raise fears that artistic freedom is at risk. Some feel that the intrinsic value of art is threatened if the sustainability of artistic practices is examined and restrictions are imposed. However, art always occurs as part of societal and cultural change and is not separate from it. Art has always been about exploring the future and seeking meaning, and requiring more sustainable practices from visual arts practitioners in the future will not threaten the content freedom of art.

Sustainability Work in the Visual Arts Sector

Sustainability work in the visual arts sector is actively developed in foundations, artist residencies, museums, art organisations, and also artist-led initiatives. To deepen collaboration, the Kestävän kuvataiteen verkosto (Sustainable Visual Arts Network) has been established, which includes industry organisations, educational institutions, funders, and other actors. In recent years, for example, the Green Art project and Turku University of Applied Sciences’ public artwork carbon footprint calculator have provided artists and art organisations concrete tools for planning environmental work and carbon footprint calculation.

In art organisations, the challenges of sustainability work often relate to resource scarcity. Low human resources, lack of environmental skills and insufficient funding make it difficult or slow to adopt more sustainable practices. At the same time, intense competition for funding and the art world’s emphasis on internationalisation and visibility are at odds with a slower, less travelled and less materially resource-intensive, more ecological way of working. It is important to identify the emission sources of international cooperation, but at the same time, new ways of conducting international cooperation based on more sustainable practices should be created.

In artist residency activities, emissions and environmental impacts arise from artists’ travel, but the condition and energy solutions of residency accommodations also matter. However, long-term residencies can be seen as a more sustainable form of internationalism than short-term exhibition- and production-oriented work.

To reduce emissions from international work, it is worth looking at how each residency organisation profiles its calls and activities, where and how it spends its annual carbon budget. Could the residency period be implemented remotely or enable a longer, multi-month residency period for those travelling from afar? In addition, low-emission cross-country travel should be favoured for intra-European journeys. Residency organisations can play a significant role in reducing emissions by providing advice and financial support for more ecological travel.

In museums, environmental impacts are caused, for example, by buildings, the mobility of the public, the transport of works and the construction of exhibitions. The largest emissions usually come from buildings, as museum collections must be preserved at a certain humidity and temperature. The limited influence of museums is often a barrier to moving towards more sustainable energy solutions: they rarely own the properties they use. Switching to electricity produced with renewable energy is a significant improvement. In addition, the considered use of cloud services and artificial intelligence in the offices, and plant-based catering at events will reduce emissions.

Environmental Tools for Visual Arts Professionals

The Green Art project, launched in spring 2023 by fourteen Finnish visual arts operators, created tools for the ecologically sustainable renewal of production and operating methods in the field of contemporary art. The project developed more ecologically sustainable models for artwork production, workspaces, exhibition construction and dismantling, travel, and logistics, and tailored tools for contemporary art professionals to assess and reduce environmental impacts. The Green Art website, published as a result of the project, offers tools for the sustainability transition in visual arts, such as a sustainability calculator and communication of best practices.

The project involved key Finnish contemporary art and art education actors: Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Mustarinda Association, Helsinki Art Hall, Finnish Artists’ Association, Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki, and Turku University of Applied Sciences’ Arts Academy. Additionally, expert partners included Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA), HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme, IHME Helsinki, Finnish National Gallery, Finnish Museums Association, Pro Artibus Foundation, Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation, and Finnish Cultural and Scientific Institutes. The project manager was Saara Korpela.

According to a survey conducted in spring 2023, two-thirds of professionals working in the visual arts sector see networking and strengthening cooperation and a common knowledge base among contemporary art actors as the most crucial measures for promoting the field’s ecological sustainability. Other important measures identified to accelerate the sustainability transition included reducing travel emissions and ensuring the financial sustainability of artists. The survey was conducted as part of the Green Art project.

The LuoTo project identified broader needs related to network development. Sharing good examples of sustainability work, open network meetings, and discussion forums where sector actors can exchange ideas and share information about their measures were seen as particularly important. Additionally, actors hoped for portfolios of sustainability projects in the sector to be openly accessible, so that ongoing, upcoming, and completed ecological sustainability projects would be easily found. It is also important to increase communication between sector actors to improve continuity and optimise resource use, for example, by hiring a shared eco-coordinator for multiple actors.

Furthermore, there was also a desire for the major organisations to take a strong role in promoting sustainability and to share their best practices with the smaller ones. A good example of an informal peer network is the open morning coffee network of domestic residency actors, where information and experiences, including insights into sustainability work, are shared with low barriers. IHME Helsinki sets a model for sharing best practices, having published valuable lessons on ecologically sustainable art institution practices in its blog since 2019. The IHME Helsinki website also contains a wide range of other sustainability-related material.

Sustainability Work Expands from Carbon Accounting to Nature Footprint

Carbon calculators and environmental impact assessments can provide an overview that is useful when starting environmental work. Identifying one’s carbon footprint and material footprint helps to recognise the largest emission sources in operations, which measures should target, and emissions that are difficult to reduce and therefore should be offset.

In the visual arts sector, carbon footprint calculators for art have been developed in two recent projects. The public art carbon footprint calculator produced by Turku University of Applied Sciences helps calculate the carbon footprint of individual exhibition productions. The Green Art website’s calculator, on the other hand, allows calculating the carbon footprint and material footprint of production or artwork and comparing the effects of individual choices on the size of the carbon footprint.

The LuoTo project identified the need for circular economy services, such as borrowing and purchasing used materials, tailored to the needs of visual arts actors. Functional circular economy solutions could curb natural resource consumption and optimise resource use. For example, SWAMP, a free recycling point located in Pasila, which started in 2024, responds to this need by receiving and offering reusable materials to artists.

According to the Green Art Survey (2023), what the visual arts sector needs most is more information on the environmental impact of transport, freight, postage and packaging materials, the reuse and recycling of materials and equipment, the environmental impact of materials and production of works, and the carbon footprint of digitalisation. More information was also requested on ecologically sustainable design and curation, as well as on the circular economy aspect of exhibition production. The Green Art website partially addresses these needs.

Scarce Resources Challenge Sustainability Work

In the LuoTo workshops, lack of human resources and skills were identified as the main barriers to organisations’ sustainability transition. In small organisations, working hours are spent maintaining basic operations, leaving no extra time for creating environmental plans, measuring carbon footprints, or monitoring activities. The need to fund personnel for environmental work is acute.

Sustainability work should not be seen as additional work alongside other work, but as a task missing from the core business that can be filled with new resources. At the same time, it is important to recognise that sustainability work should be the responsibility of every member of staff and cannot be outsourced entirely to, for example, an eco-coordinator. Support from the organisation’s management for implementing the sustainability transition is critically important so that sustainability can become the foundation for planning and executing operations. It is also essential to consider whether additional funding for environmental work should come from sources other than art funding. The already scarce and competitive art funding should not be the only source of funding for the sector’s sustainability transition.

Some actors in the visual arts sector feel that their expertise is insufficient to cover the management of broad environmental issues and would welcome professionals in environmental and sustainability sciences to coordinate the overall ecological sustainability. To support a comprehensive sustainability transition, it is advisable to include an environmental expert or a representative of science in the steering groups or boards of projects.However, the lack of in-house expertise was not seen as a barrier to action if additional financial resources were made available to enable the acquisition of environmental expertise to support sustainability work.

Artists often lack information on how to use materials in a wholly sustainable and climate-friendly manner while considering the needs of museums and collections, such as lightfastness and the size of transport boxes. Continuing education for artists on materials and their sustainable use is considered important, and training should be made accessible to all, for example, through artist organisations. Exhibition organisers also play a key role in creating more sustainable practices. Exhibition calls, contracts, and guidelines should always indicate where carbon footprint calculators can be found and how they can be used, as well as provide general information on more sustainable material choices.

Additionally, museums and other exhibition organisers could support and guide the sustainability of art creation by collecting information on available materials and transport options in the area. It is unrealistic to expect and hope for sustainable production from artists without providing any guidance on more sustainable practices and material choices.

The Future Lies in More Sustainable Practices

Systemic sustainability change requires an adaptation of mindsets and values to the circumstances of the environmental crisis, and a change of operational culture requires a review of motives and values. In redefining the way we work, we should critically evaluate short-term, new-production activities and pay particular attention to social sustainability, i.e. the livelihoods and well-being of artists. Art funding models should be reformed to support long-term work, not just the creation of new works. A more sustainable working culture could also be promoted by extending exhibition periods and production durations, while ensuring that a reduced number does not lead to inequality among artists.

The position of artist organisations as a unifying, guiding, and leading entity for collective learning among artists, art audiences, funders, and other field organisations is a strength. The workshops held during the LuoTo project echoed the view that artists’ organisations should take the lead as a unifying force for environmental work in the visual arts sector in order to achieve the sustainability transition in the relatively fragmented visual arts field. However, the position and operational capacity of artist organisations should be strengthened with sufficient funding to enable them to fulfil this role.

Improving the social and economic sustainability of the visual arts sector is a key structural issue, to which the promotion of environmental sustainability is also linked. By developing long-term working practices and continuity of funding, it is possible to enhance visual artists’ opportunities to actively promote ecological sustainability.

Art Organisations Create Sustainability Transition

The whole organisation must be committed to driving the sustainability transition, and environmental sustainability must be an approach that is embedded throughout the organisation and integrated into all its activities. Operating based on project funding leads to short-term actions and rapid staff turnover, preventing expertise from accumulating in the organisation’s basic structures.

Ecological sustainability transition requires planning and a stable organisation, training opportunities for staff, and emphasising sustainability expertise in new recruitments to ensure continuity of work. Additionally, it is important to ensure that all staff have basic ecological sustainability skills, such as knowledge of the environmental strategy and travel rules. A good basic tool for an organisation’s sustainability work is, for example, EcoCompass or another environmental certificate, which makes it easy to start environmental work.

In creating a new, more sustainable working culture, it is important to identify both the skills of staff and the needs for improvement, and to provide opportunities for continuous development of skills. In the visual arts sector, the same people often work in different associations, and due to limited resources, there is no opportunity for skill development. One key measure identified is the need for free sustainability training tailored to the visual arts sector. Thus the LuoTo project produced the basics of ecological sustainability training for creative sector actors in spring 2025.

International work requires travel, but not all art funding models yet support low-emission travel. An exception is, for example, the Saari Residence of the Kone Foundation, which is guided by ecological sustainability. The Finnish Cultural Foundation also views higher travel costs favourably if they result from travel methods that minimise climate and environmental impact. The Finnish Cultural Foundation’s mobility grant can cover direct travel costs as well as emission compensation fees. In Finland the state travel rules and travel strategy mainly enable more sustainable travel for distances under 500 kilometres.

The most effective ways to reduce travel emissions are minimising air travel, favouring low-emission travel modes, preferring public transport over private car use, financially supporting low-emission travel, and replacing physical presence with remote connections where possible.

Providing practical guidance on land travel and route planning can lower the threshold for low-emission travel and increase its popularity. For example, HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Program has compiled information on more sustainable travel on its website, serving a wide user base both within and outside the visual arts sector.

Artist residencies such as HIAP, Mustarinda, and Saari Residence have been pioneers in integrating more sustainable travel into residency periods and artistic work, as well as renewing their staff travel practices. IHME Helsinki has also significantly reduced the carbon footprint of travel in its artwork productions. The support for slow travel at the Saari Residence of the Kone Foundation has proven to be an attractive factor for artists applying to the residency and has enabled the adoption of low-emission travel methods as part of their artistic practice.

To reduce the carbon footprint of transporting artworks and artists’ travel, travel needs can also be reduced by optimising route planning and increasing the number of screening copies. The most effective ways to reduce audience travel emissions are collaborating with public transport, organising group transport to events, encouraging walking and cycling, and holding events in locations with good public transport connections. When planning activities, the primary consideration should be choosing a location that allows the audience to arrive with low emissions.

A lack of communication is one of the core issues in sustainability work in the visual arts sector. Long-term and ambitious sustainability projects remain internal knowledge within the organisation if they are not communicated. Sometimes the obstacle to communicating about environmental actions is the perception that there is a shortage of expertise in communicating about environmental actions. Additionally, a lack of resources and time limits effective sustainability communication. More comprehensive and intensive communication about sustainability projects would increase sustainability expertise in the sector, spread best practices, and share knowledge.

It is important to communicate to the audience about ecologically sustainable practices already during the production, exhibition, or event, as effective, clear, and engaging communication can influence the audience’s environmental behaviour. Communicating about ecological sustainability is one way to impact cultural change that supports the sustainability transition. However, greenwashing should be avoided: communication must be fact-based and maintain the proportions of issues.