Critical Daily    Critical practice in graphic design

A multimedia group exhibition curated by Oto Hudec deals with how mankind is currently facing up to the climate crisis. Presented are questions that do not provide clear answers, in the belief that the message is stronger when the visitor seeks the answers themself.

Volba2050.World [Choice2050.World], explores different ways of reading the displays and acknowledges the different intellectual equipment of each visitor. You can walk past the presentations in a few seconds and still capture the main idea; you can start, leave, and come back again, layering your perceptions in parallel with the layering of the exhibition by the exhibition designers: Peter Liška, Boris Meluš, and Ľubica Segečová. Joined by certain professionals who are passionate about climate issues, such as filmmaker Eva Križková and activist Lukáš Osvald, the various entries are inspiring. Environmental challenges await us — whether we confront them or want to pretend they do not exist.

The authors agree with scientists and environmental policymakers that we are facing a choice incomparable to any previous challenges of our generation. To emphasise the urgency of the message, a realistic deadline of 2050 was chosen: a year that is mentally far enough away, yet dangerously close. We have 30 years to transform our lives, the industry, the economy, and society as a whole, in order to avoid irreversible consequences.

A simplified visual aid is provided here. Two ‘sidewalks’, two extremes of possible futures, are plotted in a curved form, as physical ramps with surface graphics. Two timelines spanning from 2020 to 2050,  stating assumptions for the development of an uncertain future. These scenarios take into account both positive and negative developments with regard to climate change and the survival of the human species on Earth.

Data visualisation is never objective or true — it necessarily expresses an opinion, that of the author, their level of knowledge about the state of research at the time, sometimes even their political beliefs. The images in VOLBA2050.WORLD are informational and educational, including conscious and targeted overlaps with a utopian, political and poetic art dictionary. The idea of the exhibition is to motivate the audience to think about possible solutions without a feeling of resignation, fear or apathy. Of course, the authors do not resist transmitting their own opinions, but these are based on facts and presented without pathos and moralisation.

The exhibiting artists, as well as the scientists, are aware that a quality discussion forms the basis of a constant search for (lost) balance. The individual works not only illustrate, but also answer the branching sub-questions of a great topic, which (unfortunately) still do not end with this deed. The choice is always up to ‘the powers that be’, but also to each of us.