Set in 2035, the COOL: How We Did It project features visionary, multidisciplinary artwork reflecting on how local communities strategically collaborated to fast track the transition to regenerative and resilient systems.

Created in collaboration with scientists and researchers, COOL artwork will be exhibited in the lead up to and following COP31, negotiations for which Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will be the President until the next COP in Ethiopia in November 2027.

Exhibition: the first presentation of COOL artwork is as part of the City of Yarra’s Exhibition Program

When: Thursday 29 October 2026 – Sunday 24 January 2027. 

Where: Bargoonga Ngnanjin North Fitzroy Library

Join us for the official opening on Wednesday 11 November, 6-8pm – Day 3 COP31.

Artworks by Lichen Kelp, Grace Lipson, Julian Meehan, Bridget Nicholson, Ata Tara and Giselle Wilkinson.

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Changing Wilds Ensemble Concert featuring the world premiere of Robert McIntyre’s 85 Seconds to Midnight  

When: Tuesday 10 November 2026, 6pm – Day 2 COP31. 

Where: Melbourne Recital Centre, please see full concert details here. 

Following the concert, please join us for a discussion with Robert McIntyre (composer, lawyer and Wattle Fellow alum), Dr. Brad Jessup (climate lawyer), Tany Brahmanand (Doctor, visual artist and Wattle Fellow alum) and Deborah Hart (CLIMARTE Creative Director and Chair). This project is generously supported by the Robert Salzer Foundation.

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Sharon Field’s multi-award wining project The Scrolls 3,000 Days…and counting with The Scrolls Ensemble

When: 12-15 November 2026 – Days 3-6 COP31.

Where: The Lyrebird Festival, Megalong Valley, NSW.

This creative climate collaboration grew from a CLIMARTE-led participatory workshop with musicians and educators from the Australian National Academy of Music.

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In defiance of the current path towards a 3°C hotter world, COOL presents creative blueprints and roadmaps for community-focussed economies powered by 100% clean and regenerative production systems.

Referencing the best available science and regenerative energy innovations, COOL artwork also shows how Fresh Fuel* complements community driven solar, wind and battery technologies to secure clean, reliable power that directly responds to local needs; powering things that were challenging to electrify, and providing flexible backup fuels essential for the renewable energy transition.

In drawing down carbon and generating oxygen, by 2035 these fast growing, natural alternatives are also effectively displacing petroleum-based plastics, and chemical fertilisers. In addition, they’re providing highly nourishing food supplements and medical treatments for people and animals and regenerating soils. Grown in globally distributed, locally scaled (in contrast to ‘industrial’) models, Fresh Fuel (for food and energy) is also delivering jobs, purpose, and hope for a better future for communities everywhere.

Inspired by the possibility of a transformed future, COOL is grounded in the past and anchored by First Nations’ ‘caring for country’ principles and protocols.

‘Not commercially viable’? In obstructing R&D for regenerative alternatives, this is precisely what the fossil fuel industry said about solar and wind energy as well as batteries. Meanwhile, for some time now independent evidence has been showing that renewables are already significantly cheaper and more efficient in spite of ongoing political and financial obstacles as well as major construction constraints. Consumer International’s June 2025 report shows that 80% of global consumers not only support a transition to renewable energy but are mobilising at scale to realise it. For a historical reflection on how we ended up in a Climate Emergency, please see our What we know and how long we’ve known it resource.

So, what role do artists play in lighting the way towards a regenerative future?

At this development stage, participating artists include , Lichen Kelp, Grace Lipson, Robert McIntyre, Bridget Nicholson, Maria Simonelli, Ata Tara, Catherine Abigail Ward, Giselle Wilkinson, 198 Studio, participating artists from the Looking for the Wetlands: betwixt & between project including Kate Gorringe-Smith, Jo Lane, Nancy Lang, Melissa Murphy-Vella, Gomathi Suresh and Emma X Zhang, The Scrolls Ensemble featuring musicians Ronan Apcar, Sola Hughes, and Maria Zhdanovich responding to Sharon Field’s ongoing project The Scrolls: 3,000 days…and counting.

After years of dedicated community advocacy, Culture’ (with a capital C) was finally adopted at last year’s COP30 in Brazil, as Objective 19 under Pillar 5 on fostering human and social development, one of the 30 objectives of the Action Agenda. Logically, all of this presents exceptional opportunities for creative, collaborative climate justice action.

We gratefully acknowledge the City of Yarra for enabling us to commission Lichen Kelp’s Passiona Anemona, a video work exploring regenerative business models as well as for the opportunity to present COOL artwork as part of its official exhibition program.

* such as from algae biofuels (in development in 1940s), oleaginous bacteria, hemp, bamboo, yeast, mycelium and fungi.

Image: Lichen Kelp, snap frozen sunshower, documentation of liquid landscape/performance sculpture, 2023