As the world grapples with difficult challenges — including how to manage water and the environment, help people to lead healthy lives, cope with climate change and develop technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) — fresh policy thinking is urgently needed. For the past ten years, the European Union has been trialling an unusual approach to gaining diverse perspectives, by bringing together scientists, artists, policymakers and the public through a series of transdisciplinary projects.
The SciArt Project was launched by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in 2016 (see go.nature.com/4nv92cd). Unlike conventional art–science collaborations, SciArt includes policymakers from the beginning, and gathers input from communities. The goal is to produce more human-centred policies, for example, by better addressing the realities of how communities are affected by wildfires or water pollution, or how people can live alongside nature in conservation areas.
Here we outline how the project works and share some of its successes.
Open to learning
The project operates through thematic cycles called Resonances, each focusing on a priority area that is aligned with the EU’s objectives. For instance, the NaturArchy cycle, which ran from 2022 to 2024, focused on issues linked to the European Green Deal, including the legal rights of nature, nature-based solutions, Indigenous knowledge and economics beyond growth.
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Each cycle provides an opportunity for artists to immerse themselves in the research being conducted at the JRC, allowing them to develop works that reflect and question the policy implications of scientific advancements. In turn, scientists and policymakers are exposed to creative ways of thinking that challenge conventional methods and open up unusual possibilities for research and policy formulation1.
SciArt projects unfold through a carefully structured process, starting with an open call for artists to respond to a curatorial statement linked to a specific theme. Workshops, lectures and dialogues follow. These are held at a transdisciplinary summer school, where artists, scientists, scholars, curators and policymakers meet to discuss ideas and explore the intersections of their work.
After the summer school, the artists enter a residency phase, during which they work closely with their scientific or policy counterparts to jointly develop an artwork grounded in research that reflects the issues discussed. Over the years, this collaborative process has produced 54 artworks and scores of community-engagement projects, often resulting in scientific innovation and spilling over into policies (see ‘Fresh perspectives’).
Fresh perspectives
These SciArt projects are making a difference.
Specter[al]s of Nature reimagines changes in surface-water bodies through 3D printing and video animation. Developed by artist Ingrid Mayrhofer-Hufnagl in collaboration with Joint Research Centre (JRC) specialists Alan Belward (remote sensing) and Elahe Rajabiani (policy analyst), the project transforms satellite data from the Atlas of Global Surface Water Dynamics5 into 3D sculptures representing four water bodies: the Brahmaputra River, the Aral Sea, the Balbina Dam and the Pantanal wetland (see go.nature.com/44xnv4k).
By translating complex data into tactile sculptures, the artwork communicates the fragile balance of water ecosystems to policymakers and the public. These sculptures were central to a 2024 workshop at the EU Policy Lab, and are used as a tool in other futures research platforms in which water would be part of the decision-making process, its presence shifting perspectives, languages and insights. The application of cutting-edge 3D-printing technology has also led to innovative data-visualization methodologies. A film is in production.
Lament, by artist Margherita Pevere in collaboration with composer Ivan Penov, JRC soil scientist Diana Vieira, environmental activist Céline Charveriat and European Commission policy officer Lucía Iglesias Blanco, was developed in collaboration with a community in Santa Comba Daõ, Portugal, after a 2017 mega-fire devastated the area.
After a wildfire, citizens of Santa Comba Dão in Portugal mapped the scars it left on their community.Credit: Romane Iskaria
Through artistic methods, firefighters, students, community leaders and local business owners shared their emotions, memories and stories of resilience (see go.nature.com/3kyq9ab). This community-engagement project was expanded to policy discussions and recommendations, including a 2024 workshop on wildfire resilience at the European Commission.
The project’s outputs include a performance and installation. Three heaps of soil and ash are placed on a canvas, with 100 glass cocoons suspended above them, containing moss, charcoal or burnt soil. A performer, representing a creature emerging from the soil, moves across the canvas, leaving traces from the various soil types, to symbolize the slow process of ecological regeneration. A live cello accompaniment is mixed with sound recordings from burnt forests affected by the 2022 wildfire on the Karst Plateau at the Italo-Slovenian border.
Artistic research from the project has been integrated into the FIRE-RES platform, an international initiative aimed at addressing extreme wildfire events and a toolkit (see go.nature.com/442xamc) for fire resilience, which includes materials and activities for schools, fire technicians and policymakers.
Synocene is a series of experimental sound installations that blend the environmental sounds of the European Union’s nature-conservation sites with the voices and experiences of communities living in these areas (see go.nature.com/4272zfa). It’s a collaboration between sound artist Sam Nester, visual artist Marina Wainer and JRC artificial-intelligence specialist Isabelle Hupont Torres, in partnership with EU policy officers Marina Xenophontos and Iglesias Blanco, who work on nature conservation.
Residents of conservation sites in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands were invited to reimagine their environments from the perspectives of trees, moss, birds and more. This raised awareness about nature restoration and explored the challenges of balancing environmental protection with human needs and aspirations. AI processing of the sounds and stories created an immersive experience reflecting all the inhabitants of these areas. The collaboration also spurred research into biases in representations of nature in AI technologies; these depend on cultural values, language and how nature is perceived by societies6.
Through performances and immersive experiences, citizens can participate in dialogues about sustainability; policymakers can then use these insights to inform legislation that addresses public concerns. Through workshops, sensory experiences and storytelling, art–science collaborations allow people to reflect on their relationship with the environment, promoting behavioural shifts.
For example, the Haunted Waters project (see go.nature.com/42khtd2) showcases a cocktail bar of samples of contaminated water, each sent to the artist by a member of the public, alongside the sender’s personal story of that water body — thus blending citizen science with storytelling and myth. The bar’s visitors can learn about the main causes of chemical contamination in each sample by leafing through a menu. Haunted Waters sparks discussions on the difficulties of providing scientific advice on and designing policies to regulate thresholds of chemical cocktails in rivers and lakes.
Contaminated water samples sent in by contributors are on display in the installation Haunted Waters.Credit: Nonhuman Nonsense
